Those Forsaken
by L. VanDattae
Summary: It all started when Subaru accidentally brought one home. Now Kamui and Subaru find themselves running for their lives, wrapped up in a fight neither could have foreseen. Vampires, Kamui, Subaru, Fuuma, Seishiro.
1. Flight

**Disclaimer: **(Doing this officially at least once) All characters are copyright of CLAMP. No monetary profit is being made from the writing or distribution of this fic.

**Warnings:** AU, vampirism (ie: blood, violence, some physical abuse), etc.

**Character-Beta:** Schnickledooger. (not quite the same thing as an actual Beta, but I don't feel that I write so poorly that it's a necessity—I was just worried about some of the characterization)

Written because there are less than a dozen vampire fics for X/1999 and only like 2 are longer than 2000 words despite being well written (I only wish _I_ wrote so well!), and because the idea simply wouldn't leave me alone. Enjoy.

**Chapter 1**

Flight

There was no moon in the sky that night. The great oppressive shadow caused by its absence smothered the scattered stars and the weak light of lamps set shining in small windows. It covered all the little houses clustered together for safety. It covered the blood that dripped from tables and beds and counters and floors in red rivulets. It covered the corpses lying twisted and broken, slumped silently in silk sheets and along wooden walls and over chairs, pale faces staring blankly into space. It covered the children, little hands limp and smiles frozen oddly in place, and the parents, some still curled protectively around each other. Everywhere. In every home. Darkness clung to the cluster of four-cornered, shingled houses like a living thing, breath stirring dust from the narrow streets—one particularly strong exhale rushed to the far outskirts of the village, over fertile fields, ruffling silken stalks of grain, before finally colliding with two figures racing full-tilt across the uneven ground away from the carnage in the village.

At the slap of cold wind on pale skin, brilliant green eyes snapped back around, taking in the fire that was just beginning to lap hungrily at the eaves of a little house on the edge of the village. In the light of the flames those green eyes glowed orange. He squinted against the blaze, searching for any sign of movement amid the crackling flames. There was none. Distressed tears caught and glittered in long lashes. Then an impatient tug on his hand had him facing forward again as his companion half dragged him hastily towards the dark line of trees at the far edge of the field. Quicker now, together they plunged into the abyssal darkness of the forest.

Then they were racing. Running. Twigs slapped at exposed arms and faces, tangled in dark hair, ripped through cotton pajamas. Impenetrable shadows made it near impossible to dodge in time. At one point they ran headfirst into a spider's web and their hands unclasped only long enough to pull the long sticky threads out of mouths and noses. A layer of decaying leaves acted as padding for bare feet, except for occasional rocks and dead branches that were always stumbled upon a little too late and tended to result in bloody footprints on crackling leaves afterward. But through it all—through the slap of leaves and sting of rocks and occasional clingy cobweb—a sense of numbness persisted. The green-eyed boy barely felt the tug on his wrist as he was dragged along. He'd long since stopped feeling the cold night air against his cheeks. Now that the panic had worn off, in their endless flight there was suddenly too much time to think. His feet moved mechanically, stumbling to keep up with his twin, hands moved to ward off branches seemingly of their own accord. In his mind he saw again and again the image of the flames just beginning to lick the posts of their home, and then he would think of _her_ and the determination on her face as she'd tried to defend them, to block them with her body from _that man_, shoving them towards the door, telling them to run…

All at once the fear and panic and hopelessness he'd suppressed came welling up. Tears he couldn't feel ran down his face, blurring the darkness, and he whispered her name into the night like a mantra…

"Hokuto-chan, Hokuto-chan…" Her green eyes flashing angrily, shouting, the way she had looked when she'd finally crumpled in that man's embrace…

No! He mustn't think of that! He tried to focus on the hand that was still clasping his, dragging him forward—warm, solid through his gloves. At least he had the gloves. Only because he'd worn them to bed, but still… She'd made them for him…

His throat tightened. The forest suddenly blurred out before him and his foot connected solidly with a protruding tree root. There was a startled exclamation as his hand was jerked free of his companion's, before hard ground tore into his knees and the palms of his hands. It didn't hurt. Compared to the cloying tightness across his chest, threatening to close off his throat, he might as well have landed in layers of leaves.

"Subaru!" That familiar voice calling his name… It took him a second to realize they'd stopped, that they were no longer running, that they were now slumped unceremoniously on the ground. Small, wind-frozen hands gripped his shoulders, shaking him anxiously. That gentle, familiar voice, calling, commanding, pleading… "Subaru, get up! Please get up!" He let that voice draw him partly out of his daze, towards brilliant amethyst eyes watching him worriedly—his twin, his brother. But even Kamui's presence couldn't completely alleviate the tidal wave of grief, nor chase away the sorrow that was threatening to consume him, only temporarily hold it at bay, only keep it from swallowing him for just a little while longer…

Kamui felt frustration bubble up inside him, and he tamped down the desire to start shaking Subaru until he came to his senses. Panicking wouldn't solve things. His body couldn't handle any more panic anyway… That initial burst of total, all-consuming fear that had filled him when Hokuto-chan had started screaming at them to run, allowing his feet to cover twice as much ground in half the time despite dragging a semi-uncooperative Subaru, had long since worn off. The adrenaline had burned down to sheer will power, muscles struggling, aching at each step. He would have liked nothing more than to collapse next to Subaru and rest, if only for a few minutes, just to let his chest stop heaving, his heart stop beating frantically, the tension in his muscles ease… but he knew better. Stopping now would simply make it that hard to start again. Already his body was complaining at the thought. And now that he wasn't running, now that the cold air was beginning to seep into his skin, he was shaking. Fine tremors wracked his arms and legs. At least his hands on Subaru's shoulders were firm. They would have to get up—the sooner the better. It wasn't safe there. They weren't out of the proverbial (and okay, literal) woods yet… It might not be safe _anywhere_, as far as Kamui knew, but at least they could get some distance between them if they kept moving.

They had stopped right above the steep bank of a little stream, lined with sharp-looking rocks. Kamui eyed the drop speculatively and made a note to see if they could lose their trail in the water if they could just find an easier way down…

"Subaru, please, we have to move. He'll find us if we stay here…" Kamui trailed off helplessly under Subaru's vacant gaze, then glanced worriedly behind them, back into the dark forest. How much time? How much time did they have before _he_ caught up? It wasn't like they hadn't heard stories of… about… Kamui's mind shied away from the thought before he determinedly forced himself to continue… _vampires…_They'd heard stories of vampires before. Just rumors really. The villagers in their old home town had loved to tell tales on dark nights by the fire, always of aunts or uncles or twice-removed third cousins or distant ancestors who had had run-ins with them. There had been a time when Kamui would sit and listen rapturously to the dark stories, curled in a corner unnoticed. But the stories were always about far-away countries and distant cities. Sure, many a parent had shamelessly used such stories to keep kids in at night, but there had never been any real evidence… Certainly no one expected one to suddenly show up in their own little village, or to run into one on the way home (literally, in Subaru's case)…

And then he had _accidentally_ brought it home…

Kamui scowled. Subaru's problem, he reflected, was that the boy had an uncanny ability for running into trouble—or maybe it was trouble that ran into Subaru. Whatever the case, it hardly mattered now. The only thing left to do was run. Kamui wasn't sure it was actually possible to out-run a vampire—certainly no one in the stories had ever done so—and he was _so tired_ of running… But it was either that or sit and wait for it to catch up. Somehow that option didn't seem very desirable.

Now that his heartbeat was no longer pounding in his ears, Kamui realized that Subaru was actually talking, murmuring something over and over. It was so quiet, it took Kamui a few minutes to recognize it as a litany of "Hokuto-chan, Hokuto-chan, Hokuto-chan…"

"I know," Kamui said softly, staring sadly into Subaru's blank eyes. "I'm worried about her too, but there's nothing we can do for her now. Come on, let's get going…" He got up, straining against his aching muscles, gently pulling Subaru with him.

Subaru let Kamui pull him to his feet, offering no resistance but not really helping either. He just couldn't see how running would do any good. It wasn't like they could escape. Run, yes. Resist, yes. But never escape. He'd known that from the moment he'd woken up to mesmerizing amber eyes in his bedroom. Or perhaps earlier, ever since he'd tripped into that man's arms seven years ago while hurrying home late one night after sunset. Somehow he'd known even back then that it was only a matter of time…

As if reading his mind, strong arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind, tearing him away from Kamui. Subaru watched transfixed as his fingers brushed Kamui's one last time, still reaching out. Then the moment ended. Kamui spun around with a wordless cry and launched himself at Subaru's captor, only to be batted away effortlessly. Pinned carelessly by one strong arm, Subaru could only watch as Kamui was flung backwards, tumbled down the bank, smacked into a tree, and finally hit the rocks below with a sharp _Crack!_ He didn't get up.

Looking back later, Subaru would never be sure what happened next. He might have collapsed in a boneless heap in the man's arms, or he might have started screaming or thrashing wildly in an attempt to get to Kamui. He knew only that after that last resounding _Crack_ everything was silent…

He barely noticed the sharp pain in his wrists as they were crushed between large hands. Nothing mattered—not the cold wind freezing the tears on his cheeks as fingers tilted his chin up, not the amber eyes inspecting him critically, not the sudden tug that caused him to topple into the man's arms… nothing mattered but that feeling of falling. Endlessly falling. Falling since the moment he'd taken that first step away from their home, their life, and now… away from Hokuto-chan.

He was vaguely aware of fingers brushing the tears away, of warm breath against the skin of his neck, the brush of lips… then he fell for real, everything going mercifully dark…

* * *

Kamui woke up shivering, clothes rumpled and damp from morning dew. His head hurt like hell, and when he pressed stiff fingers to his hair they came away vaguely sticky and coated red. This combined with the fact that certain areas of his body were numb in a way that just shrieked "Move at your own peril!" messages to his brain… Altogether not a good sign. He attempted to sit up, sure that there was a perfect impression of the rocks etched on his face and side, only to sway dangerously as his head spun with throbbing pain and the arm that had been trapped under him regained sensation with a fury. He moaned and waited 'till he could breathe again. Now if only he could remember how he'd gotten there…

The morning sun was just peeking over the horizon, infusing the little stream beside him with molten gold light. Molten gold… Amber eyes… Kamui jerked up with a startled gasp that quickly became a hiss of pain.

"Subaru!" How could he have been so stupid? Subaru! He had to find Subaru! He attempted to scramble up the bank, ignoring the burning in his legs and the bruises along his ribs, but when he tried to use his right arm to lift himself up the steep incline, he stumbled back with a shriek, vision whiting out. It was this that finally persuaded Kamui something was really wrong with that arm. But whether it was twisted or broken or fractured, it didn't matter. He had to get around it somehow. He had to find Subaru.

A moment later he was scrambling up the bank again, this time attempting to haul himself up one-handed, careful not to extend his right arm. It took longer than he would have liked, but finally he was standing at the top calling for Subaru again and again. He searched through the trees, half frantically, half apprehensively, afraid of what he might find. Or not find. But in his heart he knew it was far too late… In the end, the only trace Kamui found of Subaru was a single black glove fallen on the forest floor…

* * *

Kamui knew in a fuzzy sort of detached way that there was something wrong with his feet. The ground felt totally smooth and soft, like walking on carpet. He couldn't feel the difference between rock and dirt and stick under the soft skin. Nothing. The soles were totally numb. So it was with some detachment that he stared at the bloody footprints left stark against the rock-strewn ground behind him and wondered whose…

No. His mind shied away from that thought—recognized it as something that shouldn't be dealt with yet. Finding Subaru had to come first. That was all that mattered. However, trying to track down a vampire who didn't want to be found, alone, with no food and no weapons, particularly in the shape he was in… was roughly equivalent to committing suicide. So maybe if he could just get to the next town… Surely there had to be someone who could help him. Surely someone would be _willing _to help him. Kamui's mind rebelled against the thought of leaving Subaru, of not searching further, but he reminded it sternly that getting himself killed wasn't going to help either. So he found himself walking numbly through the forest, occasionally tripping over rocks and roots, focused solely on getting to the other side, of finding a town, of getting help, of returning... And as the forest finally broke onto a wide dirt road, and as he started down it, certain now that it wouldn't be much longer, the mystery of bloody footprints was erased from his mind. They vanished in the dust of the road.

* * *

The sun had long since set, but that made little difference in the city. Fuuma weaved through the crowd easily, deftly sliding through gaps in the throng with practiced ease and grace. It helped that space seemed to naturally open before him, bystanders taking one look at him and moving back, often with a murmured "Lord Fuuma…" That day he'd made no attempt to blend in, garbed in the flowing black silk with gold filigree his position allowed. But even when he dressed plainly, he was an impressive figure, tall and lithe and imposing.

Fuuma paid those around him little attention, preoccupied with his thoughts. The last couple nights had been a lesson in patience. He'd almost found the thing he'd been searching for, only to have it ripped out of his grasp at the last second—once again he'd been one step behind. Then he'd been forced to give up his only lead due to… time restraints, and he was sure the trail would be dead by now. Preoccupied as he was, it was no surprise that his eyes flickered passed the boy at first. Then the words registered.

"Please, somebody, help… vampire… my brother." The voice filtered brokenly through the rush of people. Fuuma stopped, turned. At first glance the boy was a mess, wearing nothing but a pair of incredibly dirty pajamas that were almost ripped beyond repair and stained with blood. His feet were bare and he was holding his right arm carefully still. Just another street urchin with no home and no future. Most people ignored him, but some looked at him pityingly and yet others shot him disgusted glances. No one wanted to deal with a boy raving about vampires. Naive fools. Fuuma eyed him critically from across the street. Sure, the boy clearly needed a bath, but underneath the dirt and the bruises and the scratches and the dark circles under his eyes, he was actually… quite lovely. If he was cleaned up he might even be pretty. Then the boy turned suddenly and he found himself staring into shocking amethyst eyes, wide with desperation.

Fuuma realized he was staring and scowled at himself. The boy's looks had nothing to do with it. What really mattered—what should have mattered from the start—was that here at last was the key he'd been looking for, practically thrown into his lap. And just when he'd thought it was a lost cause. He grinned, a satisfied smirk. Things were looking up.

* * *

The city was not a nice place. The fact that he looked like he'd just seen the worse side of a brawl, had been sleeping on the ground, and was screaming about vampires like some sort of delusional idiot wasn't helping. Kamui knew he was a sight. He'd been begging everyone who crossed his path for help all day. Too many faces turned away at the sight of him or stared when they thought he wasn't looking—some spat at him or yelled. If it wasn't for Subaru… If it wasn't that even now Subaru might be…

Kamui shook his head. He couldn't think about that. Surely there was someone here who would believe—someone willing to help him.

"Please…" he begged, voice hoarse, catching hold of a man's sleeve as he passed, "help…"

"Let go of me, street rat!" The man's foot connected with Kamui's shin, causing him to let out a moan and drop to his knees. But still his fingers clutched at the man's sleeve.

"You don't understand, my brother…"

"I said, let go!" This time the foot thumped solidly into his stomach. Kamui crumpled, fingers sliding free of rough fabric. But apparently the man didn't think this was enough. "Filth! Trash! The city would be a better place without vermin like you!" Another kick connected with his middle and then the leather boot came down on his broken arm. Kamui cried out, vision blurring with pain. He waited, eyes squeezed tight, for the beating to continue… but it never came. There was a gasp from above him, a nervous, "Lord Fu…" that was cut off abruptly by the sound of something soft hitting the pavement. Then fingers brushed his cheek.

"I think you've said enough, little one." The new voice was soft and deep. "You're going to get yourself into trouble if you go on like this." Then arms wrapped around him, lifted him up, careful of his broken arm. Kamui protested, but he was too weak and the arms too strong, pinning him with ease. He tried to open his eyes and get a good look at his captor, but the world was blurring fast, leaving him with a fleeting impression of what he thought were a pair of small, round shades before the world started to fade. But right before he lost touch with reality permanently, he thought he heard someone whisper…

"I think I'll keep you…" And there was something in the widening of a smile that promised this would be worse…

* * *

**Author Note:** I don't know if this is really going to go anywhere—I'm pretty bad about finishing my stories, not to mention the fact a friend is demanding I work on a different story (a oneshot in which Subaru discovers he has sleepwalking problems), and she's pretty persistent… I guess it'll depend on how badly people want the rest of this.

Anyway, I want to know if anyone found this chapter confusing? I tend to be a bit vague sometimes, and I'm not sure if what happened to the boys before you find them running through the woods at the beginning is understandable or not, but I'd like to improve my writing. What's _your _impression of what happened to them? Anything I could do better?


	2. Captive

**Warnings: **(should've added this last chapter) Nondescript Nudity.

**Chapter 2**

Captive

The next time Kamui awoke, it was with a gasp, jolting up, only then realizing he was in a large, four-poster bed as the thick covers dropped to his waist. Immediately every muscle in his body complained at the jarring action, the soreness having finally set in for good. Kamui winced, but only for a second. He was in a large room, lavishly furnished with dressers and nightstands and drapes and thick carpet, and he didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten there and he wanted out, out, _out_!

He jerked the covers the rest of the way back, and forced his sore, tired legs off the edge of the bed, dangling in the air a good foot above the floor for a second. Then he jumped off… and immediately collapsed, crying out in stark pain as his legs refused to hold him up, and his feet (which had hitherto seemed blessedly numb) sent sharp stabs of agony to his brain. For a few minutes he simply lied there, breathing raggedly against the carpet. Then, as the pain receded, he slowly uncurled and tried tentatively to get to his feet, clinging to the bed post. And that was when the man found him, just as his second attempt ended in utter failure, and he was clinging to the edges of the blankets rather pitifully.

"Now, now, enough of that," the man said chidingly, taking in his deplorable state. "We can't have you hurting yourself, now can we?" Kamui shrank back against the bed, staring with wide-eyed alarm at the black-garbed specter before him. He was tall and imposing, with a pair of small shades resting on the bridge of his nose.

"Who…" Kamui whispered.

"I'm Lord Monou Fuuma," the man supplied, smiling. "And you are?"

"Kamui." He didn't like the way the man smiled, more a predatory grin than a smile.

"Well then, Kamui…" Fuuma glided forward, amused by the way the boy instinctively tried to flinch away, and knelt down so they were almost level. He wrinkled his nose. "You need a bath." Without waiting for a reply, he swept the delicate-looking boy into his arms, once again amused as the boy let out an indignant squeak and immediately clutched at his shirt in panic.

"No, no, really…" Kamui managed, as he was carried down a hall and into an elegant bathroom, all protests ignored. He was set down on a rug on the floor while Fuuma turned the water on in the bath, twisting the hot and cold handles until he was satisfied. Then he turned back to Kamui. A small smirk was Kamui's only warning before the man grabbed his tattered shirt and jerked it off over his head.

"Monou-sama!" Kamui gasped, jerking backward, only to hit his head rather painfully on the corner of a cabinet.

"Fuuma," Fuuma replied, advancing on the cowering boy, who was effectively trapped between him and the cabinet. "Just Fuuma." Kamui's eyes repeatedly flitted toward the closed door. At the last second he made a half-hearted attempt to escape, only to hiss as his injured feet hit the floor, sending pain stabbing through him again. Then Fuuma's arm wrapped around his waist, jerking him back effortlessly into the man's lap, where he was quickly divested of any remaining articles of clothing.

"None of that," Fuuma whispered into the boy's ear, enjoying the sound of the boy's heart beating under his palm. So light. So fast. Like a little bird. "You can't escape." Kamui curled into a defensive ball, which simply made it easier for Fuuma to pick him up and dump him unceremoniously in the bathtub. Water splashed over and hit the floor. Kamui spluttered for a few moments, reaching out to cling to the edge of the tub with white-knuckled hands, looking rather deplorable. Fuuma picked up the soap and began to scrub the boy down, scouring the dirt out of the fine skin, receiving multiple glares for his trouble and a couple undignified squeaks and squirms as he worked his way lower. He left the boy's feet alone for the time being, hoping the water would soak off some of the dirt, and turned his attention elsewhere.

Kamui gasped as Fuuma suddenly grabbed a fistful of his hair and jerked him backwards, down into the water. He flailed for a few minutes, splashing horribly, before he realized that the man wasn't trying to drown him. Even then, it took all his concentration to submit calmly and not struggle against the hold as shampoo and conditioner were worked into his hair, almost gently, in sharp contrast to the hand still fisted painfully through the dark strands. Still, he choked on a mouthful of water as he was suddenly released and sat up spluttering.

Fuuma was pleased to see that under all that dust and blood, the boy's hair washed out a feathery black. Satisfied, he reached under the water to grab one thin ankle and jerk the foot up, eyeing it clinically through his shades. The water had soaked off the top layer of dirt, but the sole was still black and crusted with old blood. It was going to have to come off. He reached back and pulled a washcloth from a small pile in the cabinet. Then he began to scrub.

Kamui jerked as the washcloth initially pressed against the sole of his foot, gasping in pain. Then, as Fuuma started in earnest, he whimpered pitifully and attempted to twist free. But Fuuma was firm, gripping one ankle and then the other with a tight hold, ignoring the boy's pitiful attempts to free himself.

It was Fuuma's turn however, to make a pained "_Hn_!" sound as his ministrations broke open the wounds underneath and fresh blood seeped out. His hand tightened involuntarily on the boy's ankle.

It was Kamui's pained "You're one of them!" that brought him back to his senses, and he realized he'd unconsciously leaned forward, eyelids dropping to shadow gold eyes. He smirked down at the helpless boy, an Oh-I-know smile, and returned to scrubbing.

And eventually, as Kamui writhed and struggled feebly, his feet were scrubbed free of the dirt and old blood. Fuuma kept a hold on the ankle with one hand and lifted his shades with the other so he could better inspect the now-clean foot. The sole was covered in deep lacerations that were bleeding profusely from the rough treatment, dripping a fine trail of blood into the water.

Fuuma made a disparaging sound, and then lifted the boy out of the tub, settling him on his lap, letting the water drain. As if to make up for his rough treatment earlier, he applied antiseptic to the wounds with the lightest of pressure, before wrapping both feet firmly in layers of gauze. Then he grabbed a towel and started toweling the boy dry, occasionally pausing to run slender fingers over the large purple splotches that decorated the stomach and chest and arms and legs with the gentlest of caresses, while Kamui clung to him, long eyelashes resting against pale skin. Really, Fuuma thought, the boy cleaned up pretty. Once the last couple days' dirt was washed away, he had such porcelain pale skin, if only it weren't for the bruises… He made a sound of slight disapproval. But those would fade soon enough.

Wrapping the towel around the boy's body, he started to stand, noticing at the last minute something dark amid the discarded pile of clothes on the floor. He stared at it for a few seconds, then turned and carried the boy back into the bedroom, laying him down on the bed. He left for a bit to find something for the boy to wear, which turned out to be one of his silk shirts, absently picking up the small black scrap of cloth from the bathroom while he was at it. Then, once the boy was wearing something, he sat down on the bed next to him.

"What do you want from me?" Kamui watched him warily, wide amethyst eyes confused. Fuuma chuckled.

"You're only here because you smell like him." Fuuma caught Kamui's hand in his own and pressed it to his face, inhaling slightly.

"What?" Kamui blinked, thinking maybe he'd misheard. He was a little distracted by the feel of Fuuma's lips against his palm.

"_Him_! You have _his_ scent on you!" Fuuma's grip tightened on Kamui's hand and he closed his eyes, long lashes lying against pale skin in concentration, taking in that scent that still clung to the boy's skin, faint but discernible. An old smell, not like the dust and mold and cracklings of old books, nor really like the stale smell of long-trapped air, but that unique old smell of ancient power. Thoughtfully, he flicked his tongue against the skin of the boy's palm, reassured by the faint taste that still lingered there and amused by the reflexive curling of the boy's fingers. Fuuma opened his eyes to pin the boy with a suddenly-intense, golden gaze. "You've seen him. You've touched him. Tell me, where is he?"

Kamui felt suddenly very small and helpless, like a moth pinned to the headboard, under that gaze. He wet his lips, trying to gather his senses, trying to remember what he was supposed to be saying… But when he didn't answer immediately, he was shoved back, truly pinned now, the older boy hovering over him menacingly, effortlessly, golden eyes intense.

"Where?!" Not loud, but sharp, dangerous.

Kamui cringed, shying away from the man, trying to make himself smaller if that were possible. His wrist, still crushed in the other's grip, was sending sharp pain signals to his brain.

"I-I don't know!" he burst out, panting slightly from the pain. Then, just as suddenly, he was released. A small, black glove was thrust before him.

"Where did you get this?" Fuuma asked, holding the glove as though it were something infinitely precious.

"It was my twin brother's," Kamui replied, voice a fading whisper. He bit his lip painfully. "But he's gone now. That man took him…"

"Who?" Not that Fuuma didn't already know, but he wanted the confirmation.

"Sakurazuka Seishirou."

Fuuma's grin nearly split his face in two at that—a grin of utter triumph that promised torture and retribution and exquisite pain in the near future. He threw his head back and laughed and laughed and laughed. Kamui curled up on himself, wishing to escape that horrid sound. Finally, after what seemed forever, it petered off into chuckles.

"Seishirou," Fuuma grinned once he'd managed to stop laughing. "Seishirou, Seishirou… who never touches anyone or anything. Seishirou, who never leaves a trace, a trail, a scent _anywhere_. Seishirou, always so clever, so careful… Seishirou… _Touched_… _Claimed_… a boy, took him for his own, and _left the brother alive_!" Here he almost broke into maniacal laughter again, but suppressed it with malevolent glee. "And now…" Fuuma reached out and ran his fingers through Kamui's black hair almost lovingly, twisting one dark lock around his finger. "Now I have the brother…" And his eyes gleamed with triumphant malice in the dark.

* * *

Seishirou watched his sleeping prize with interest. The pretty thing had cried in his sleep at first, crystalline tears clinging to black lashes, every now and then crying out softly, his face drawn in the sweetest agony. But now he was still, knees drawn halfway to his chest, small hands fisted loosely in the sheets. Altogether lovely.

The boy's bare feet were a bit torn up, but nothing too bad. Inspecting one thoughtfully, he ran a finger gently over the dainty toes and the deep cuts and bruises, down to the heel, duly rewarded when the boy twitched slightly and curled up a little more. Seishirou observed this reaction with delight and decided he much preferred it like this, when the boy reacted to _him_, rather than to some dream. Grinning mischievously, he went to get a bucket of warm water and a rag and began meticulously washing the boy's feet off. Oh so gently he ran the rag over the boy's sole, enjoying the way the boy squirmed deliciously in his sleep, hands alternately loosening and clutching at the sheets. Seishirou chuckled. This really was too much fun.

It seemed to him he was done all too soon. So he went to get clean water and started cleaning the scratches on the boy's arms, then carefully worked the pitch out of his hair. Watching the boy's face as he slept brought back memories…

_Standing on a dusty corner, listening to the faint sounds of music and laughter from taverns down the street, feeling distinctly bored. It was a tiny little village as villages went, far from any city or trade route, but that was how Seishirou preferred it. It was easier to hide kills in the city, true, but all those people packed into such a small area also meant more chances of being caught and more of his own kind to worry about. Seishirou wasn't particularly fond of sharing. Besides, the people on the outskirts, they were more wary, more aware of the fleetingness of their existence, and simultaneously more secure in the safety of their warm little homes. It was so easy to shatter that safety. In a world where most novelties had long since worn off, Seishirou still enjoyed getting to his prey where they believed they were safest, throwing all those little lives into chaos. It was a fun little challenge. Of course, the other advantage of hunting so far out was the length of time it took news to travel. He could be done and gone for weeks before anyone looking for him even heard about it. _

_He stood for a few moments, contemplating the rows of dark windows thoughtfully, selecting one with careful consideration. Seconds later he had dragged one precious little bundle out the window and away from prying eyes. The streets were practically deserted at night in the village, and he was careful, concealing himself from any prying human eyes that might stumble across them by accident. So he was more than a little shocked to be suddenly ripped free of the pleasure of his meal by the feel of a foreign gaze. He looked up to find a young boy standing before him, staring pitifully at the little bundle in his arms. For a few minutes they both froze, staring at each other. Two thoughts flicked through Seishirou's mind in rapid succession: the boy had to be from one of the Families, and what a waste it was going to be to kill someone with Power. That was the only explanation after all—only someone with Power could see through his illusion, and those with Power invariably belonged to those ancient Families whose destiny it was to govern and direct the forces that comprised the world. It was that very Power that made them simultaneously delectable and incredibly dangerous. _

_Seishirou tensed, waiting for the inevitable moment when the boy's eyes would widen in horror and he would turn and run. But the moment came… and went, and against all odds the boy took a faltering step _towards _him. _

"_Please…" he whispered. "Please don't hurt her." Seishirou blinked, taken aback, then shook his head. This changed nothing. The boy still had to die. He smiled pleasantly and stood, stepping over the broken little body. If the boy was too stupid to run, well that just made it easier. Seishirou held out a hand. _

"_Come here, little one." The boy looked at it, then looked up into Seishirou's eyes, and for the second time that night Seishirou found himself surprised. The boy had beautiful emerald eyes, and a pale face framed by tufts of fine black hair. Slender fingers graced smooth, small hands. But it was the eyes… Seishirou laughed to find that for once it was he who was entranced by another's gaze. _

"_Come here, little one. I won't hurt you." And he was surprised again to find he meant it. Cautiously the pretty little thing placed his small hand in Seishirou's, and Seishirou pulled him close, looking deep into those brilliant green eyes. "Well, what shall we do with you? I bet you have a family worried about you…" Between his voice and his gaze, the boy was beginning to look confused, eyelids fluttering half closed in an adorably dazed look. Seishirou gazed down at the boy fondly and held him close for a while, pondering. _

"_What's your name?" he asked absently, partly to pass time while he thought. _

"_Subaru," the boy answered obediently. Seishirou tilted his head thoughtfully, finally coming to a decision. _

"_Forget," he whispered to the boy's subconscious mind, stroking one pretty cheek. "Forget me. Forget what I am. Forget what you've seen." Once he was sure the commands would be observed, he let the boy go, watching in amusement as green eyes widened in surprise and pale cheeks flushed with embarrassment. _

"_I'm sorry!" Subaru squeaked, hurrying to free himself from Seishirou's hold and stand on his own. "I didn't mean to…" Confusion creased his features as he tried in vain to remember what happened. _

"_Trip," Seishirou supplied, smiling lightly. "Quite alright, really. Lucky I was here." _

"_Ah… yes." Subaru didn't quite look convinced. He bowed again. "I-I'm sorry for inconveniencing you, really. Ah… hmm. I really must be going. N-Not that I'm not grateful, it's just…" He looked briefly down the street, thoughts flickering undoubtedly to the family that was waiting for him. _

"_It's just…?" Seishirou prompted. _

"_I'm terribly late, and my mother is probably worried." _

"_Let me accompany you," Seishirou suggested. "After all, it's not safe out alone in the dark." _

"_Ah… hmm," the boy blushed, bowing again. "I couldn't really. I've already bothered you, and…" _

"_No bother," Seishirou was quick to intercede. "I would be happy to. Come on." _

_It didn't take long for the boy to cave. Seishirou smiled to himself as he walked Subaru home. He was careful to work his way into the boy's life, and he quickly became a trusted family friend, even if sometimes he thought the mother suspected… But it was of little consequence. For the next several years, he was careful to always hunt in other villages, as far away as possible, always careful to make sure no one suspected… no one came near… Sometimes others of his own kind got too close and Seishirou dealt with them accordingly. And amusingly enough, during those years, that village became one of the safest places to live. But then… _

_Then there was that day… everything came to an end. _

Seishirou snapped out of his thoughts. There were some things he didn't want to remember. Now the boy was with him, where he belonged, safe from those who wished them harm, vampire and vampire hunter alike. No one could take him away. Seishirou was still a bit unsure what his original purpose had been in keeping the boy alive, other than as a source of amusement. Nor did he know for certain what he intended to do with the boy now. But one thing he knew for certain: Subaru was _his_, and no one else was allowed to touch him. If the boy was going to die, it would be by his hand—he was the only one allowed to watch the light fade from those green, green eyes.

A small contented noise from Subaru made Seishirou realize he'd been running his fingers through the boy's hair. He smiled fondly and watched as the boy's eyes finally flickered open.

* * *

**Author Note:** Okay, did this clear everything up a bit more? I hope this chapter helped make everything a bit clearer. And I apologize for the length of this Author Note—I'll try to keep everything shorter next time, but I have a few announcements to get out of the way…

First, you should thank Schnick—she's the one who harangued me into posting this today. XD We've decided, from now on I'll attempt to post a chapter every 3 weeks, under 3 conditions: I have another chapter finished by then so that I remain 5 chapters ahead of you at all times, I don't have homework that's killing me, and I actually have access to net. (I figure not being mortally wounded goes without saying) Also, the chapters seem to be ending up at about 3k words apiece (random information there), and if you ever want to know how far I am, I've been trying to keep my profile pretty much up to date with a chapter and word count.

Second, that story I mentioned in my first chapter… I actually finished and posted it. And ouch. It really wasn't as liked as this story. Clearly, I'm just not that good at humor. This'll teach me to stick to horror/angst where I belong… o_o

Third, so my Char-Beta was saddened that Sei didn't mark Subaru like in TB, but ah, Sei stays with him, so he didn't really need the marks to identify the boy again. We also both think Kamui was a little demure, and that's because I chose to portray Fuuma and Kamui's interaction like it is in X after sides are chosen, where Kamui can't find it in himself to fight Fuuma. I don't intend for this to last forever though. Also, there was some amount of last-minute discussion over whether "Lord Fuuma" translates into "Fuuma-sama" or "Fuuma-dono." XD We did our best. If anyone wants to correct me, the help would be appreciated.

Finally, I'm interested to know how many people are reading this fic for Kamui and Fuuma and how many are reading for Sei and Subaru. Any characterizations/information you weren't expecting or that seemed random? Next chapter, Subaru and Sei actually have a conversation! It's a miracle!

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger: **Thanks again Schnick for looking over these chapters and being patient while I ask all sorts of questions. You've been more than helpful. Thank you.

**Laustic:** I have to thank you, because five minutes before you reviewed I was moping, thinking I must really suck as a writer if no one liked the story and that maybe I should give up trying to write X since I clearly had no talent. But it was right about then that your review came in, and it was total happiness! It made my day! Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

**Sky Falls:** Thank you for your review! You've probably figured this out now, but yes, Subaru and Kamui are literal brothers in this story. I've been pulling things from Tsubasa and X both, but not truly sticking to either. However, I'm definitely sticking closest to X, with some exceptions including: Subaru and Kamui are the same age, Kamui and Fuuma's powers had to be limited, Subaru can't see dead people (there was no point in keeping this ability), etc. And while I had fun fitting in little bits of actual canon, like Subaru wearing gloves, it's almost never for the same reason (he isn't hiding any marks). And oh! You're the second person, and probably not the last, to think Subaru is now a vampire! I couldn't figure out why everyone kept thinking this 'till I went back and reread that last line from Subaru. _Oh… _Eh heh, I knew it was a bit vague, but I figured people would think one of three things... a) Sei kissed him, or b) Sei used some sort of spell to knock him unconscious, or c) Sei bit him. All of which were fine by me (except one gets disproved in chapter 5). Anyway, no, when/if Subaru becomes a vampire, I'll make sure it's thoroughly detailed. I loved your review!

**CheshireCat:** I think I might have, um, lost part of your review… It seems to be cut off in the middle of something… ^^;; "Bad fanfiction site! Bad! I want to know what she said!" I feel quite thoroughly distressed by this. T_T

**Luna Moonserf**: Just double-checking, did you get my review response?

**x lost fairytale**: I'm glad that you found this fic interesting! Of course, now the hardest part is next: keeping that interest. I figure this will be the chapter that I lose people who don't like where they think this is going or don't like my version of the character's personalities. Here's hoping it goes well...

**Tenshi Gosuperu**: You know, I stumbled across one of the X vamp fics by accident (surprised they were not Tsubasa versions, but actual X vamps… it was very nice), but when I went to look for more… I was vaguely disappointed. All of them were so short! A couple of them were very cute, but unbelievably succinct. I even read all of the poorly written ones out of desperation… It bothered me just enough I guess that I couldn't get rid of the idea of doing my own—one with more substance and length. At the very least, I can now say that this won't be as short as the rest! Can't promise it will be finished yet, but I've already more than doubled the word length of even the longest previously written X vamp fic, and I'm still going. *laugh* Aw, the faithfully reading every chapter is a good thing! But the faithfully reviewing every chapter… now that's a bit more rare. ^_~ Thanks for the review!


	3. A Brother's Blood

**Note: **_Nekoi_ posed an interesting question in her review, and I thought I should clarify this by answering her here. No, actually, Fuuma didn't set Kamui's arm last chapter. This wasn't a mistake. He wrapped Kamui's feet because they were bleeding profusely (and we can't have that, now can we? ^_~), but outside of that he's pretty negligent about making sure Kamui gets taken care of. I actually had to ask a paramedic friend of mine whether Kamui would be okay like that, and he said it should heal naturally as long as it isn't spiral fractured or something equally nasty.

**Chapter 3**

A Brother's Blood

Subaru was treated to an odd sense of déjà-vu as he opened his eyes only to be greeted by a brilliant amber gaze mere inches away. That effectively dispelled any lingering fuzziness from sleep. He jerked back instinctively, and his head contacted a wall. Hard. He suppressed a yelp and mentally lamented the pitch blackness that practically prevented him from seeing his own hand in front of his face. It was like drowning in darkness, an utter absence of light—shadows thick enough to swallow, choke on. And touch could only tell him so much—cold wall behind him, something soft beneath him, layers of cloth, a mattress—ah, he was on a bed then. He squinted, but couldn't see past the man in front of him, who was smiling a politely amused smile.

"Seishirou-san?" he asked nervously, and his voice seemed to bounce off invisible walls, echoing endlessly into nothingness. Seconds later he could not be sure he'd said anything at all or if he'd only thought it. The man didn't even blink, and he was overwhelmed by a sudden irrational fear that he'd been buried alive and that he was really alone in that infinite darkness. Hesitantly, he reached out, half afraid the amber eyes would waver and fade like a mirage if he got too close. But then…

"So cute, Subaru-kun." A hand wrapped around his own, twining their fingers together.

"Seishirou-san!" Subaru was too relieved to blush. Suddenly the darkness didn't seem near as stifling. Seishirou was there. It didn't matter what had happened, what anyone else thought, he just couldn't think ill of Seishirou. In all the years they'd known each other, the man had never lifted a hand against him. Knowing now that Seishirou survived on blood instead of pancakes, well, that didn't change anything. Seishirou was still Seishirou. Besides, it wasn't like there weren't things he, himself, hadn't told the man. Whatever Seishirou had done… it just didn't matter. So he didn't need the slight tug on his arm to scoot himself into Seishirou's arms, clinging to the older man desperately. He had no idea where they were or what was going on, but none of it mattered. Seishirou was there. As irrational as it was, as long as Seishirou was there, he was safe.

Now that the fear was fading, Subaru couldn't keep the suffocating deluge of memories at bay any longer. He buried his face against Seishirou's chest as if he could hide from them there, as if Seishirou could magically keep them at bay. But the images swept over him anyway, brushing against the insides of his eyelids like burning butterfly wings, curling and crisping to cinders. Seishirou calling "Wake up," Hokuto's scream, Kamui's body tumbling… falling…

He was crying. Crying because he hadn't been able to do anything, because he was helpless and weak. Crying because he had failed two of the people he cared most about…

"Subaru-kun…" Seishirou pulled back to stare down at him. Gently, he hooked his fingers under the boy's chin and tilted his head up so that they were face to face. Quiet tears poured from sad green eyes.

"I'm sorry…" Subaru replied, embarrassed, wiping the tears away hurriedly. "It's just… Hokuto-chan… Kamui…"

"Kamui's alive." Seishirou didn't bother to mention that he planned to remedy this fact if he ever ran into the boy. He'd hit Kamui pretty hard, but apparently not hard enough, for when he'd gone back to take care of the boy permanently… he'd been gone. Seishirou was still a bit irked that the boy had somehow miraculously managed to get up from what should have been a fatal fall. And though the bloody footprints had been more than enough to follow, they had suddenly disappeared in the middle of the city. Altogether not a good sign. Kamui might not have posed much of a threat by himself, but in the wrong hands…

However, it was almost worth it just to see the flood of relief and joy that spread across Subaru's face.

"Where is he? Is he okay?"

Seishirou shook his head imperceptibly. "I don't know." Subaru's face fell.

"Oh."

Seishirou decided that he didn't like Subaru's melancholy mood. "Come, let's get you some food. You'll feel better." He stood up, pulling Subaru with him, and didn't fail to notice the wince the boy tried to hide as his feet hit the floor. Not missing the opportunity to embarrass the boy, he quickly reached down and swung him up into his arms. He was not disappointed.

"S-Seishirou-san!" Subaru protested, blushing beautifully. "I can walk!"

"But your feet are sore, yes?" Seishirou smiled at him, the picture of innocence.

"Ah… hn… It's not… really… I can manage."

"Nonsense. This will be much easier." He refused to accept further argument, adjusting the boy in his arms a bit before sweeping out of the room. Subaru clung to his shirt blindly the whole time. He couldn't see anything in the darkness, but he could sense walls closing them in on either side. There were no windows, not even the tiniest sliver of light anywhere. It felt a little like he'd gone blind, totally dependent as he was on Seishirou knowing the way. Finally, the man set him down on something hard. Subaru recognized it when he leaned back and felt the wooden spindles of a backrest press against him: a chair. Then, seemingly aware of his discomfort, Seishirou lit a lamp. The light flared, and Subaru was forced to look away briefly, blinded after so long in the dark. Once his vision adjusted, he could see that he was sitting at a small, but ornate, cherry wood table with matching chairs. A kitchen counter wrapped around one end of the room, complete with pots and pans and knives and all manner of other utensils. At the other end, two hallways led off in different directions.

"What… What is this place?" Subaru asked.

"It used to be an underground sanctuary, a hiding place," Seishirou replied, rummaging through shelves, "but that was ages ago." Looking through the cabinets, he made a mental note to buy food. As it was, the only reason there was anything edible on the shelves at all was simply because he'd been bored and had decided to try his hand at making cake. Eggs, water, flour, sugar—not much to go on. In the end he pulled out the eggs and made omelets. As he sat down to eat with Subaru, something of a habit, he quickly became aware that Subaru was watching him.

He smiled and leaned forward, whispering into the boy's ear. "Subaru-kun, you're staring…"

Subaru blushed scarlet and dropped his fork in his haste to apologize. "I didn't mean… I'm sorry! It's just… ah… you…" He glanced at the food and then at Seishirou and trailed off.

"Ah…" Seishirou said, amused. "I can eat human food. I've eaten with you before, after all. But I can't live off it."

"Then why eat it?" Subaru asked curiously, unconsciously leaning forward.

"Because I'd miss out on all sorts of wonderful experiences if I didn't. Like cake."

"Cake?" Subaru asked, disbelievingly. Seishirou nodded.

"It's sweet. I like sweet things: cake, pastries, chocolate… But there's one thing sweeter than anything else…"

"What?" Subaru asked breathlessly, staring up into bright amber eyes. Seishirou leaned forward confidentially, whispering again.

"You."

"Seishirou-san!" Subaru immediately jerked back, blushing again. Seishirou chuckled.

"So cute."

Subaru groaned and cast about for something, anything to distract him, to get away from that embarrassing topic. He gestured at the hallways. "What's down there?"

"This and that." Seishirou shrugged. "You're free to explore them if you want. As long as the doors aren't locked. Oh, and you mustn't go outside. You must never go outside without me."

"What's out—"Subaru started to ask, but Seishirou's eyes darkened.

"You're safe here, Subaru-kun. You're safe… and you must never leave."

Subaru didn't ask again…

* * *

With Kamui in his possession, Fuuma was no longer as immediately concerned with tracking down Seishirou. He hadn't forgotten by any means, but now that he didn't have to worry about losing the few traces Seishirou left behind… Finding any sign of the man in the first place had been hard enough—attempting to track them back had proven impossible again and again. Too many times Fuuma had realized he was running in circles and had had to wait for some new sign—a rumor, a scent, a body—to show up. Discovering that Seishirou had suddenly developed a weakness in the form of a human boy… that had been hell. It had taken years. In the end it hadn't been any particular clue that had alerted him to the possibility—rather it had been the _absence _of clues. One little village without _any _problems for a couple years was easily overlooked, but when the years continued to pass without incident… That was when he'd guessed there was something there being protected—some_one_ being protected. And yet, when he'd finally realized it was true, when he'd finally gotten over the shock, it had been too perfect. The perfect revenge.

And then that too had been torn from him.

Before he could figure out who exactly it was, the entire village had been slaughtered. Fuuma had returned to find the entire place a graveyard, his hope ripped further away with every body he stumbled across. The frustrating part was that he was never really sure what had happened. The deaths were too anonymous to be able to tell if they had been done by human or vampire. Had someone beaten him to the kill? Or had Seishirou himself, perhaps tiring of whatever had caught his interest, simply wiped them all out in order to move on and cover his tracks? Or perhaps for some other reason…

Frustrated but determined, Fuuma spent the next year tracking down any survivors. This eventually led him to another little village and a green-eyed girl who had taken in a pair of twin refugees, they having amazingly lived through the carnage. But once again, just when he'd thought he'd hit something, victory had been ripped away. Like the first, this village too had been utterly destroyed, the elusive twins disappearing into the darkness once again. The only good thing about the whole matter was that now he knew who he was looking for. More or less, at least, since he hadn't managed to actually _meet _the twins.

And then something totally unexpected had happened. Fortune had dropped one of the brothers directly into his path!

Fuuma instinctively tightened his hold on the boy in his arms, twining bits of black hair through his fingers thoughtfully. Kamui was the key to everything. Fuuma wasn't sure how Seishirou had let such an obvious liability escape him—had it been an accident, or had Seishirou grown so soft that he'd let the boy go for the sake of pleasing his plaything? It was ridiculous, and yet so was the idea that Seishirou had made a mistake. Fuuma grinned as the aforementioned adorable mistake curled closer in his arms.

The boy was going to be the key to Seishirou's undoing.

As long as he had Kamui in his possession and Seishirou had the twin, one boy's blood could be used to locate the other with exact precision. Twins. Fuuma couldn't have asked for a stronger bond.

Kamui made a small, discontented sound in his sleep. Fuuma petted him absently. Yes, he was precious, the key to everything. It was almost too bad he'd have to be disposed of later…

* * *

Kamui awoke sometime around dawn, alone, but with the strange sensation that someone had been with him just moments before. He had been left on his own after that last disturbing conversation with Fuuma. He lied in bed, curled up, feeling frustratingly helpless—the fact that the vampire hadn't bothered to lock him in only serving to make him more miserable. Apparently Fuuma had felt pretty assured that Kamui wouldn't be going anywhere. Kamui had thought about attempting to prove him wrong, but had come to the same obvious conclusion as Fuuma: without being able to walk, he wasn't going to get anywhere.

His thoughts turned to Subaru, somewhere out there at Seishirou's mercy. Who knew what that man might be doing to his brother_, using_ his brother for, right that very minute. Kamui's fists clenched in frustration, and he felt tears well up in his eyes.

_I'm sorry, Subaru… _The thought was a whisper. _I can't save you right now. I can't even save myself… _

He was jerked out of his reverie by a light knock on the door. He'd been surprised at first to find that there were other people there—somehow he'd gotten the impression that Fuuma lived alone, but this was not completely the case. At the very least there was some sort of staff, because he'd been brought food the day before by a maid and then several sets of clothes, all of which were somehow the right size. Kamui wondered absently if Fuuma had been the one to guess his size right in one try. It was not a particularly pleasant thought.

The maids were nice enough at least. They'd been perfectly willing to hold small conversations with him while they went about dusting and cleaning and whatnot. However, when he tried to ask about Lord Fuuma, they were suspiciously quiet, avoiding the subject like the plague.

The knock at the door repeated itself.

"Breakfast!" came the quiet voice from the other side of the door.

"J-Just a second!" Kamui replied, hurrying to pull shirt and pants on as quickly as possible with a broken arm and prepare himself for company...

* * *

Fuuma stood by the window, arms folded absently, brilliant moonlight throwing his features into sharp relief. The city spread out before him, all little square houses and narrow streets, until it was slowly eaten by the forest in the distance. And somewhere out there, somewhere beyond the moonlit horizon, was the man he hated more than anyone else.

"Fuuma?" Kamui's sleepy voice questioned—he'd fallen asleep sometime in the afternoon with warm sunlight pouring in through the open window and was somewhat surprised to wake up to moonlight.

"Kamui…" Fuuma acknowledged, stepping into the blinding squares of moonlight that were cutting into the floor, before sitting down on the bed. "You look good in black." He tugged on one of the boy's sleeves, absently fingering one of the little lavender buttons.

"It makes me look pale," Kamui grumbled, pulling his hand back. Fuuma grinned.

"Maybe I like pale…" he whispered, catching the boy's wrist and dragging him into his lap, using just enough pressure to let the boy know resistance was futile.

"You would." Kamui rolled his eyes, letting himself be dragged. He'd learned several things the night before. First, this time he'd made sure to take a bath. Second, fighting Fuuma was not only pointless, it was painful, and resulted in being taught lessons he had no desire to learn. Not that complying was any better. The man was wholly unpredictable. But if he didn't fight, if he acquiesced quickly, it wasn't as bad.

Fuuma chuckled, enjoying the feel of the boy in his arms for a few minutes. He was so tiny, so delicate. And he smelled so sweet… But then the teasing abruptly faded…

"Fuuma… why are you after Seishirou-san?"

Fuuma stilled. The echoes of screams rang hollowly in his head. He shoved them away.

"He took something important to me." Fuuma stared at the moonlight on the floor, eyes like ice. "And now I will take something from him."

"What did he—?"

"I'm going to find your brother tonight…"

"Huh?" Kamui blinked, thrown off by the sudden shift in topic.

"Your brother. I'm going to find him."

"You know where he is?" Kamui couldn't keep the sudden flare of hope out of his voice.

"No," Fuuma replied. "Not exactly."

"Then how…" Wide amethyst eyes stared upward curiously, so innocently… Fuuma leaned down slowly, smirking. He really had no idea…

"Let me show you…" he whispered, brushing his lips along Kamui's jaw line. Ghosting one hand along the nape of the boy's neck before tangling it in the silken black hair, he jerked the boy's head back in one quick motion, earning a small, pained gasp, and exposing the slender column of the throat. Slowly, he flicked his tongue over the pale skin, lower and lower, enjoying the way the boy squirmed faintly in his arms, enjoying those helpless, futile attempts at freedom—the weak, unsuccessfully stifled jerks every time Fuuma's tongue darted across the smooth skin. The boy's fear was intoxicating. Wonderful. Purposefully prolonging the moment to its fullest, making sure Kamui knew exactly what was coming, Fuuma basked in the boy's helplessness, pleased by it. Kamui would understand soon enough… He brushed his lips again over the base of the neck, softly, soothingly, before biting deep, fangs precisely puncturing the skin. Kamui jerked in surprise, stiffening in Fuuma's arms before the pain was drowned in pleasure. Molten heat pooled deep inside him, so sweet it ached. Moaning, he tilted his head back further, good arm coming up to wrap around Fuuma's neck.

Fuuma's eyes fluttered closed in ecstasy—the boy tasted as good as he smelled. There was something of deep summer in the boy, heady and rich, a fiery core that belied that thin frame, and something… something like a glimmer of gold, sensed but not seen, always just out of reach. The boy's hand tightened at the nape of his neck, tangled convulsively in his hair, nails scraping against his skull. The faint pain amused him. He pulled back for a second to lick at the marks fastidiously, and Kamui made a small, plaintive '_hn'_ sound, trying to pull him back down. Fuuma chuckled and bit down again, deeper, dragging the boy further into the brilliant darkness that threatened to consume them.

He felt the pull he'd expected settle in—the bond between the blood filling him, the boy in his arms and another boy, further away. He was aware of them all with a blinding clarity. If he'd wanted, he could have pointed in a straight line to the brother's location. As it was, he simply let the pull settle on him and turned his attention to Kamui, whose hand at the back of his neck was finally starting to loosen.

In Kamui's mind, the warmth of Fuuma's mouth against his skin and the pleasure pooling in the pit of his stomach and the dizziness all seemed to fuse into one, until he could no longer distinguish one sensation from another. Lethargy spread through his limbs, eyelids drooping low, until the fuzzy darkness tightened indefinitely.

Fuuma waited until Kamui succumbed to the drowsiness, and then released the boy, meticulously lapping the wounds clean, before laying him down and pulling the covers up. He stood there, silhouetted in the moonlight for a few minutes, just watching Kamui's chest rise and fall. The blankets moved silently in time. The boy was a little paler than usual, which was to be expected, and he would likely feel lightheaded and tired the next couple days, but no harm done. The boy would be fine.

Satisfied, he turned to look out the window, focusing now on that mental pull that had settled over him with the first swallow of Kamui's blood. It had weakened after he'd broken direct contact with the boy, but it was still strong and bright in his mind. Soon… Soon Seishirou would be in his grasp.

Full attention on the task ahead, he quickly grabbed a pair of clean gloves and walked purposefully out into the night…

* * *

**Author Note**: Seishirou is used to eating human food when he's with Subaru! XD Poor guy. Actually, the idea of vampires eating human food is sort of a foreign concept to me, and I didn't want to include it. But I 'did' want to give Seishirou his enjoyment of sweet things. *groan* So I decided to allow it. I suspect it probably isn't good for him to eat a lot though.

At 4 to 5 (plus 2 that liked both), my Chara-beta was right, there are more people reading this for Sei/Su than Fu/Kam, despite the fact that Fuuma and Kamui are currently the ones driving the story. Personally, Kamui and Fuuma were the first ones I fell in love with, but now I enjoy all four, and I've tried hard to make sure there's something going on with both pairs at any given time, although I'll admit that chapter four is almost completely Sei and Subaru. (Some people will be happy about that, some won't)

Random Questions R Us: Anyone already figure out what Seishirou took from Fuuma? (Schnick, no telling!) Also, does anyone know the page/scan # where Fuuma meets Subaru to accept him as a Dragon of Earth? I know someone out there probably has it memorized… I've looked for it three times, but I must be skipping it somehow (it has to be after book 16, right?), and I desperately need a reference pic from that scene! T_T

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** *grins* Of course you're Sei/Su! I counted you! Surprisingly though, the count is almost even! Despite the incredible lack of Fu/Kam in the X category, there are still quite a few fans!

**TenshiGosuperu:** Heh, I'm picky about Subaru/Kamui. My conditions for that pairing are that Fuuma and Sei have to be dead, otherwise I just can't see it. I can at least tell you for certain now that yes, Fuuma is a vampire. No character deaths? But *grin* I can promise you right now that multiple characters _will _die. However, which ones will stay dead… that I'll leave to your imagination. =D Ee, I hope you'll bear with me through ch. 4 and all the Sei/Su. Up 'till now, Kamui and Fuuma have had the slightly larger parts, so next chapter I had to catch the other two up. ^_^;; Thank you for pointing that out, by the way. Oh gaul, actually there were at least 3 spelling errors. T_T First was the one you caught, then when I went back to look, "selecting one careful consideration" should have been "selecting one _with_ careful consideration," and the third was in your review response! "…world count" should have been "_word_ count." I can't even begin to tell you how many times I looked that chapter over! *sigh* I grammatically check my own stories, but sometimes my eyes see what my brain thinks it wrote. *rolls eyes* Ah, but I love hearing your opinions! *laughs* You've quickly become one of my more helpful reviewers. Because you share your opinion, I can better gauge how understandable things are. Actually though, "Dreams of Kisses" was 'not' the first vamp fic I ran across! It was "untitled" by "midnightinthegarden." (this is the one my version of Fuuma resembles most closely) Personally, I think this one was written better than any other! It deals with Fuuma running across Kamui in a park. You'd like it. And despite being rated M, nothing actually… happens. "Dreams of Kisses," the one you describe, is the second best vamp fic. ^_~ (excluding crossovers)

**Secret For Keeps:** So good to see you! Sadly ch. 2 was one of the longest Fuuma/Kamui scenes written so far, which means you won't be getting anything quite that long again for awhile. I was initially surprised by your suggestion that my characterization comes from Tsubasa… I was actually thinking more like X, with a crueler version of Fuuma and a less testy version of Kamui than Tsubasa's characterization, but I guess Fuuma in the first two chapters 'does' seem Tsubasa-ish. Give it a couple chapters and see if your impression changes. ^_~ And eh-heh. Yeah. I learned from ch. 1 to phrase my questions better. Ask if anyone doesn't understand and of course it's the people who 'think' they understand who reply (the people who don't get it don't want to admit it). I got a lot of "I understand" from ch 1, then promptly got a bunch of "This is much clearer" for ch. 2. XD

**Laustic:** Aw, thank you! I was really worried about that flashback scene too, thinking it was too cliché, too close to the canon. I didn't want it to be 'boring'!

**Sky Falls:** I 'am' trying to ease Kamui towards a stronger personality, but because he's more or less immobilized (for various reasons) during the first several chapters, it's going to take a bit. Once he gets used to dealing with Fuuma, he'll become more impatient and more willing to push back.

**Maya:** Thank you. I often feel that my writing is not vivid enough or not clear enough or doesn't have a fast enough pace, so hearing that you liked my writing style makes me happy. ^_^

**The Philosopher's Queen:** *cackles* I too always seem to fall in love with the villains. Fuuma is currently the character I'm enjoying writing most, but I'm hoping for a chance to do the dark side of Sei soon. So far, because of the circumstances, Sei hasn't gotten a good mass-murder scene.

**Sute-hikahika:** XD My Chara-beta and I are at odds. She thinks your review got cut off. I've been taking "Ah" to mean you understood chapter 2 better than chapter 1. But either way, thank you for the review!

**Billy:** Heh heh, yeah, most people seem to keep Fuuma and Seishirou on the same side. But *grin* Fuuma has his reasons for despising Sei in this story. Actually, you might already be able to guess what said reasons are. ^_~ You'll find out for certain in chapter 5 though.

**Rivendellelve:** Trust me, I don't want to leave this thing incomplete either! But under the weight of the last two years of a BS degree, my grades are suffering every time I sit down to work on this. T_T At the very least I've gotten a good chunk of it complete, so it won't be horribly short.

**Nueij:** *crosses fingers* I certainly 'hope' my plot remains interesting. One of the things I always worry about is how well-put-together my plot is. My Chara-beta seems to be enjoying it so far though, so hopefully I've done a good job on it. ^_^;;

**Cheshire Cat:** It's good to have you back! Thanks for the support!


	4. Hunter

**Chapter 4**

Hunter

Subaru was sleeping. Apparently the boy had attempted to wait up, one hand curled around the corner of an old book lying open on the blanket. Wisps of black hair splayed across one white velvet pillow. Legs sprawled haphazardly on the bed sheets. The boy hadn't quite gotten used to the late nights.

Seishirou smiled fondly and brushed strands of black hair away from dark lashes before running one finger lightly down the pale column of the boy's neck. He wondered absently if the boy knew how tempting he was like that, sprawled deliciously where he had fallen on the sheets, head tilted just perfectly, baring the throat.

It had been a strange feeling at first, waking up to the realization that somebody else was in his home. He'd even totally forgotten about Subaru for a few minutes upon waking and had been startled to hear the faint beating of another heart only rooms away, well within the walls of his home. In all his years there, no one had ever penetrated his barriers, and the thought that someone had managed to get in had had him instantly on alert… until the mysterious intruder turned out to be the snow-skinned, pretty little thing he'd brought home only days before, fast asleep and lying innocently on the bed.

Not for the first time, he wondered what had possessed him to bring the boy there. Having a human so close, even one as apparently harmless as Subaru, was dangerous. But he'd had to think fast that night, and getting Subaru out of there had come first. Subaru was _his_. Here he could watch over the boy, keep him safe from prying eyes and those who wished to use him for their own ends. Here he could be assured of the boy's protection. No one else would be allowed to look upon the boy again—no one else would gaze into those emerald eyes or run fingers through that fine hair or see that gentle smile ever again. _All his. _The boy would be safe, a pretty doll nestled among the myriads of other treasures that had been brought home over the years—a particularly fragile doll to be handled with great care. The boy amused him, and what amused him he kept.

Staring at that pretty throat, Seishirou again found himself wondering what the boy would taste like… He realized he'd leaned forward before coming back to his senses, and he mentally scowled at himself. The boy wasn't for eating…

_Then what_, a small voice in the back of his head complained petulantly, _is the boy for_?

Seishirou pushed that thought away too.

* * *

Fuuma stood in the living room of a huge, double-story house situated in the middle of a quaint little grove of sakura trees. The house had been furnished exuberantly, with wispy curtains that let the moonlight spill through onto the floor and thick carpets and ornately carved tables and chairs of exquisite workmanship—it was all very pretty, and all very empty, and all very _fake_.

"Clever, Seishirou," he muttered to the stillness. He could still vaguely feel the pull of the brother somewhere below him—he was in the right spot. He could feel the presence of multiple spells and barriers, all of which would take him some time and studying to unravel. Clearly he wasn't going to get anywhere until the illusion could be broken, but breaking the illusion might alert Seishirou, and he didn't want Seishirou to know he'd been there quite yet. There was no point in giving away his presence until he was fully prepared. He'd been very careful not to touch anything, even with the gloves. It was only direct contact he truly had to be careful of, but even the gloves might leave faint traces, so it was better to avoid both as much as possible. As long as there was no contact to leave a smell, it would be almost impossible for Seishirou to track him down or even realize he'd been there.

Tamping down his impatience, he studied the illusions and barriers one last time and settled on going home for the day, where he immediately buried himself in his library, pulling old books off the shelves and flicking through yellowed pages. He had his work cut out for him.

Absently he realized this delay meant there was a certain black-haired boy sleeping upstairs he'd have to find a way to keep a little longer…

* * *

Seishirou took as many opportunities as he could in the following few days while Subaru's feet were still healing to carry the boy around, much to Subaru's embarrassment. Subaru walked on his own as often as Seishirou let him, or rather, as often as he escaped Seishirou's notice. Admittedly it was a rather clumsy walk at first, despite his efforts to not wince or make any other sign of pain that might attract a certain dark-haired vampire's notice. But his feet healed fast enough, and soon he was walking around like normal.

Seishirou came and went, sometimes letting Subaru know he was going out, but most of the time just disappearing. Subaru never saw him sleeping, and he tried not to think about what the man might be doing when he went out. The time when Seishirou wasn't around was spent exploring. There were a surprising number of rooms, all told, and a great many of them were or had been bedrooms, now mostly being used as storage rooms. Pretty things of all shapes and sizes lined the walls and filled the shelves. There were long, hand-woven rugs on the floors, silver and gold vases on carved cherry wood stands, intricately enameled boxes, and things polished and sparkling and shiny and… They all had one thing in common: they were very pretty, very aesthetically pleasing. Seishirou clearly had a talent for picking up pretty things.

The room in which Subaru had originally woken up turned out to be no exception once he got a lamp in there. In fact, if possible, it held the prettiest pieces of all. The bed's silk sheets were topped by white velvet blankets with blue tassels, while the bed frame itself had a large headboard carved with an image of a sakura tree. A dresser of equal design in the corner held up a dozen glass figurines, and a nightstand proudly displayed an intricate glass clock that had never been wound.

Standing in the middle of all those beautiful objects, Subaru felt inexplicably plain and ordinary—like a plastic plate on a shelf of crystal. That lasted until, one day, Seishirou found him standing awkwardly in the middle of a particularly lavish room, wrapped an arm around him from behind and whispered into his ear: "The most beautiful of all." Subaru thought he might still be blushing from that.

Seishirou, on the other hand, was becoming more and more frustrated. He'd been searching for the missing brother for almost a week without any luck. No one remembered seeing him. No one had heard of him. It was like he'd just disappeared without a trace. Seishirou was beginning to suspect that the boy was intentionally being blocked from him, which seemed to indicate he'd already fallen into the wrong hands. This meant Subaru was in danger. And through Subaru, him as well.

Of course, he could have used Subaru's blood to track down the missing brother once and for all, but he was against that option, because frankly, he had invested too much time into Subaru. Years worth. He had spent years studying the boy's reactions, earning precious obedience and trust. And while it might be fun to see how far he could push before the boy finally crumpled, it would serve no purpose and worse, undo all those years of endeavor. As he watched Subaru drift through a room, hand sweeping the air over the things on the shelves in an insubstantial caress, a small amused smile played at his lips. Yes, he had put a lot of effort into getting the boy to smile and come when called and turn only to him… too much effort to jeopardize it now.

Ever since he'd found Subaru standing in that room, surrounded by all those glass figurines, looking thin and ethereal and delicate, he'd been more aware of how very fragile the boy was. A sense of delicateness echoed in Subaru's every faint gesture, and there were certain aspects of Seishirou's character that he was certain would break the boy as surely as a sudden cold snap would wither a fern's young fronds, certain things he never wanted the boy to know. It was still unclear how much Subaru understood about that night he'd taken him away. Did the boy truly understand he was living with a murderer? Whatever the case, if a bit more difficulty finding Kamui was the price for Subaru's trust, it was worth it. Subaru never needed to know…

Of course, Seishirou couldn't have known the boy was about to be thrown headlong into it anyway…

* * *

Subaru had a sneaking suspicion he was becoming nocturnal. It was hard to tell, since he hadn't seen sunlight in a good week, but slowly the periods he spent sleeping were beginning to overlap with Seishirou's, and Seishirou was more accurate than any alarm clock. This was fine with Subaru. This way he could spend as much time with Seishirou as possible, greeting the man when he woke up (though he still wasn't sure where exactly Seishirou slept—he tended to just show up), sometimes eating breakfast together, and always waiting up for Seishirou to return if he went out. Of course, he never actually _heard _Seishirou return, usually he'd simply turn around and find the man in the room or have strong arms suddenly wrap around him from behind. So when he unexpectedly heard a loud clatter coming from the kitchen one night while waiting for Seishirou, he was more than a little surprised.

Worried, he padded softly down the hall, reaching the kitchen quickly. Across the room, near the opposite hallway, a small pile of books had been knocked over, and Seishirou… Subaru's eyes widened in shock. There was a smear of blood against the wall where Seishirou had slid down and now was slumped on the floor, one hand pressed against his chest, where he had been slashed open nearly from shoulder to waist.

Seishirou held his hand to the wound that was draining him of blood, panting. The wound had been deeper than he'd thought. Not deep enough to be fatal—he'd taken worse—but deep enough to lose precious amounts of blood, deep enough to weaken him. Under normal circumstances, he would simply have needed to replace the blood he'd lost, and the wound would have healed almost instantly. But with the wound, he hadn't wanted to take the chance of anything going wrong while hunting, especially when he was dripping a trail of blood and there was the risk of being found again by _them_. Besides, the fact that the wound hadn't healed could only mean one thing: the one who had hit him had used some sort of Power. Of course, there were ways of countering such effects, but the chances of managing to catch someone from one of the Families on a good day was slim, and in his weakened state it was close to impossible. Altogether not good.

So that left him with one option: waiting for the wound to heal at its own, annoyingly slow pace. This meant coming home, which in turn meant facing Subaru… which was out of the question. He couldn't let the boy see him in such a state—not when his control was so weak and he needed blood so desperately. It could be dangerous. He just had to get past Subaru unnoticed. Luckily, the boy had been in a different room when he'd come in. But luck never lasted... He'd barely gotten through the door when he'd been hit by an incredibly strong wave of dizziness and had attempted to grasp at the counter to steady himself. Except, instead, his arm had knocked over the pile of books and he had barely managed to catch himself against the wall before his head spun and his knees gave out, sending him sliding to the floor. Now he panted, waiting for the room to stop spinning. He knew he had to get up before Subaru found him, but…

Even across the room, it was the blood he smelled first—that achingly sweet smell that belonged only to one person. He hadn't even heard anything: no soft footsteps, no swish of fabric… which said something about the state he was in. It was the blood that got his attention. He jerked his head up, instantly focused on the green-eyed boy across the room. He expected to see fear, or hate, or loathing—surely now the boy would see him for what he was or turn away in disgust. If the boy had any sense of self-preservation at all, he would turn and run and never look back. Except, of course, this was Subaru.

"Seishirou-san!" Subaru cried out, and Seishirou felt a moment of little-known panic when the boy started running _toward _him.

"No! Stay away!" Seishirou made a warding gesture with one bloody hand, glaring threateningly at the boy. Now was not the time for his misguided compassion. But the effort was lost on Subaru.

"You're hurt!" the boy replied, beside him now, hands reaching out uncertainly. "I want to help!" Seishirou batted him away, a little harder than he'd intended, throwing the boy back with bruising force, but he wasn't sorry. The boy had no sense of self-preservation.

Undaunted, Subaru picked himself up off the floor where he'd landed. His chest ached from the blow, and he was surprised how much it hurt to know Seishirou had done it. Seishirou had never… But he brushed that aside. It didn't matter. Seishirou was injured. Seishirou needed help. Determinedly, he stood up and walked calmly back over to the man. He started to reach out to unbutton Seishirou's shirt, so he could see the wound better, but one of Seishirou's hands wrapped around his wrist with bruising intensity. Subaru hid a wince—it was easy to forget how strong Seishirou was, how easily the man could snap his bones—and stared him down instead, which was just as disconcerting, like staring into molten amber, and part of him felt like he was being sucked under. The man didn't let up. Really, Seishirou was too stubborn.

"Let me help," Subaru tried reasoning again. "You're hurt. What do you need?" He started to reach out with his free hand, but suddenly he found himself pressed against the floor, Seishirou on top of him, teeth pressed threateningly against his neck. Fast. He never even saw the man move. _Oh…_

"Don't offer what you can't give! You have no _idea_ what I need," Seishirou ground out. It was like drowning. He couldn't breathe without being assailed by hunger. Subaru's proximity, Subaru's scent, Subaru's blood running through the faint blue tracery of veins under pale skin. Everything he needed, everything his body was screaming for was sprawled helplessly beneath him. He shook with the control it took to not crush the boy accidentally, to not bury his fangs in the boy's throat. Subaru was like one of those glass figurines in the bedroom: pretty, ephemeral, easily broken, but infinitely more precious, and impossible to replace. No one could ever make another Subaru. If he wanted this one, he had to keep it alive. But Subaru seemed determined to make that difficult. Seishirou stiffened as he felt the boy's arms wrap around his shoulders, pulling him down.

"It's okay. I want to help," Subaru repeated soothingly. "It's okay." He would gladly give everything to save Seishirou, he'd decided that long ago. It didn't matter what the man was. Seishirou was important to him. If it would help, he would gladly do anything… He pulled Seishirou closer, arching his neck invitingly. And finally, with one last shudder, Seishirou gave in, biting down into that slender, pale throat. Blood welled into his mouth, and the last shreds of control dissolved, plunging the world into absolute darkness…

Subaru drew in a quick breath at the stab of pain as Seishirou's fangs shredded his throat. Instinctively, he clung tighter to the man, curling against him, seeking safety even as little electric shocks shot down his spinal column in searing, lightning-quick bursts. His body arched up involuntarily against it, every muscle drawn tight as a bow string, pressing firmly against the man above him in a long, lithe line, chest to chest, hips to hips. The air felt heavy, cloying, a stickiness that stuck in his throat and sloshed into his lungs and threatened to drown him. He gasped, panting, trying to suck air in through a bruised throat. It hurt. Breathing hurt. Moving hurt. Lying still hurt. He writhed helplessly against the older man, until heavy hands on his hips shoved him roughly back down onto the floor, pinning him like a butterfly to a board: wings unfurled to their fullest, stretched, strained wide in agony… life fading…

He clawed desperately at the darkness that was eating him from the inside out, nails raking into Seishirou's shoulders, but the man shrugged it off as though the boy's hands were nothing more than leaves to be batted away. A faint squirm and he bit deeper, his grip on the boy's throat unbreakable. Subaru choked, dragged in a huge, rattling breath, and choked again. The hands holding him down tightened, nearly crushing his bones between them. Black splotches burned through the fabric of the world, fraying it irreparably. Reality unraveled before him.

Weakly, he clung to the body above him, the only solid object in the darkness, strong and unwavering. One delicate hand pressed softly against the small of the man's back, a pitiable attempt to keep him close, as though afraid they might somehow be parted in that infinite nothingness. Tears glittered suddenly in his lashes.

"Seishirou-san," he choked on the whispered words and dissolved briefly into a fit a painful coughing. "Seishirou-san, where are you?" Green eyes wide and blank, trembling. Afraid. Alone. Except for this stranger, holding him down, never letting him go.

"It's okay," he whispered soothingly, to the man, to the nothingness. "It'll be okay." With the last of his fading strength, he ran his free hand lovingly through the black hair that brushed his jaw. Maybe he was dying… He knew that thought should frighten him, but in the ringing void that had become the world, he could only feel glad. If he was dying, at least it was for Seishirou-san…

Nothing mattered—not the hard floor beneath them, not the steadily slowing _drip-drip_ of Seishirou's blood onto the green-eyed boy below him, and definitely not the scattered books or stained wall.

_Sweet_. That was the first thought that broke through the darkness. The boy, whoever he was, tasted sweet. Better than any cake or other confectionery ever could, and yet vaguely like the inside of cream puffs, Seishirou mused fuzzily. Altogether delicious.

Fine fingers brushed through his hair, and he moaned contentedly, lapping at the wounds on the boy's neck with little flicks of his tongue, determined not to let a single drop go to waste. And then the hand stilled, the faint rhythm of the heartbeat thinner now, and he opened his eyes, the world clicking back into place with a sickening thump. The blood. The boy.

"Subaru-kun!" He jerked up, a thousand little things rushing back to him. His bruising grip on the boy's hips. The damage done to the boy's slender throat. Distantly, he realized the nasty gash he'd received was finally healing, which simply confirmed what he'd suspected about the boy for quite awhile. Not that it mattered. "Subaru-kun!" He shook the fragile body, half relieved and half upset when the boy moaned incoherently and started coughing. Hurriedly, he tore a strip of his shirt off and wrapped it around the mauled throat, then pulled the boy with him, up into his lap, cradling him carefully.

Subaru blinked dazed green eyes as the world came back into focus with an unpleasant little jolt, somewhat surprised to find that he was still alive. An all-consuming fuzziness was still enveloping him, the darkness dissolving slowly.

"Seishirou-san?" He reached up, brushing the back of one unsteady hand along the line of the man's jaw. Real. It was real. Seishirou caught his hand before it could fall away and swept swift kisses across the knuckles in silent apology, stilling at the end. The boy's skin against his lips was cool, the thin body light as fallen snow in his arms and just as pale, as though the slightest wind might sweep him away. The smudges of bruises were already casting their shadows where his hands had been holding the boy in place. He frowned. But if it bothered Subaru, the boy didn't show it, already otherwise distracted.

Subaru looked down… and blinked. And blinked again. It took him a few minutes to decide he really was staring at Seishirou's chest. Wonderingly, he reached out to press fingertips to the bloody, but otherwise unmarred skin.

"What… How…" His voice was hoarse, echoing from a raw, damaged throat. Seishirou put a finger to those soft lips, shaking his head. But Subaru was determined. He shook off the drowsiness a bit more and forced himself to form coherent sentences. "What happened? I thought… you were hurt."

"I was." Realizing nothing would do until the boy's curiosity was satisfied, Seishirou carefully divested himself of the bloody, torn, and utterly ruined shirt so that Subaru could see for himself, humming when the boy's gentle fingers traced the old path of the wound. "Your blood… it boosts our natural healing abilities."

"I did that?" Subaru blinked wondering, half-glazed eyes at him.

"Mm," Seishirou agreed, before leaning down to whisper accusingly into the boy's ear. "You never told me you had Power."

"Ah… hmm." Subaru smiled, a weak, guilty smile. All the more beautiful for it. "It's not… I mean… I can't do anything _useful_." Another cough punctuated the statement.

Seishirou pouted, prodding the boy a little. "You mean healing vampires isn't considered useful these days?"

"I didn't mean…!" Subaru managed to blush faintly despite the loss of blood. "Of course I'm glad I could help. It's just… I can use a few spells, nothing big."

Seishirou shrugged. He had a feeling the boy was being modest, but as long as the boy wasn't suddenly going to develop some dangerous ability, he really didn't care. Of course, if Subaru had Power, what did that say about the brother…? Letting Kamui escape was beginning to seem worse and worse.

"So, ah, what happened anyway?" Subaru touched his bloody chest again, lightly. "If it's not a bother…"

"Hunters." Seishirou shrugged again.

"Hunters?" Subaru's eyes widened. Seishirou nodded.

"This one used Power," he elaborated. "That's why the wound wouldn't heal."

Subaru truly looked sad. "Are there a lot of people trying to kill you?"

"A few, but it's the ones who want you alive you have to worry about." Seishirou grinned mischievously at Subaru's adorably puzzled expression, but before the boy could inquire as to his meaning, he yawned cutely. Clearly, the drowsiness was finally settling in for good. Seishirou scooped him up into his arms, declaring, "Time for boys to be in bed!" Subaru didn't protest and was already mostly asleep by the time Seishirou got him to his bedroom and blew the lamp out. For a few minutes Seishirou listened to the sounds of rhythmic breathing and contemplated the gentle pull that now sang in his blood. It was almost a pity, here he finally had a decent line on Kamui's location and he couldn't do anything about it. Subaru would have to be watched over the rest of the night to make sure he'd be okay. Noting the direction of the pull, he reluctantly tuned it out and turned his attention back to the boy on the bed, settling beside him and listening to the soft sounds of his heart until dawn stole the darkness away.

* * *

**Author Note:** Thanks to my ever-patient Chara-Beta, a HUGE chunk of the ending scene was redone at midnight last night, expanding it by 600 words and taking it from fun and fluffy to dark and angsty. Because it was done in such short notice, I'm positive there are errors in it, and I apologize for that. Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

First and foremost… a WARNING. I think. I got a bit carried away in the next chapter, and technically, as it is, it's rated M. ^_^;; I can do one of two things. I can take out the grand total of… *counts* …three lines that are tipping it over the edge in order to keep it rated T (and then post the complete and original thing on LJ a week later). *mutters something that sounds suspiciously like "if I'd only left his pants on"* (It's not what you think... *sweat*) OR… I could change the entire story to M, which will throw it out of the main list of fic updates, and see who stays with me… *pant, wheeze, gasp* What's your opinion? Would you stop reading if it became M?

Also, before someone complains about the thing with Fuuma: a bit here on the difference between spells, Powers, and onmyoujutsu as used in this fic… Onmyoujutsu, as an art, probably won't be mentioned specifically in this fic, but rather as a collection of spells, raw talent, and practitioners. Spells are general and can be used by anyone with some semblance of talent and a bit of understanding (obviously, the more talent and understanding, the more difficult the spells that can be cast). Strength figures in too, though. For instance, theoretically an incredibly powerful but amateur spell caster might be able to shatter the more intricate castings of more experienced practitioners, but would have little control over the spell. Power is more individualized. It runs in certain Families and cannot be used by anyone outside those Families no matter how hard they might try. It's innate, not something that can be learned. Sometimes spells can mimic Powers though. For instance, Seishirou can weave a maboroshi, but he can also use spells that create illusions. The latter is what Fuuma runs into in this chapter.

As for the reason behind Fuuma's anger with Sei… I won't say for sure, because you'll find out next chapter, but I 'will' say that some people already have it right. (which probably gives it away anyway… XD)

Oh, and finally… I had a few people demand to be added to the stats. So, the total is now… 8 Fu/Kam fans and 8 Sei/Su fans. It's a tie. XD

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** Aw, it's their first time, and it turned out all painful! *realizes what she just said and _blushes_* You see what you do to me?! I'm sorry it didn't turn out 'better' than Fu/Kam's for you, but I think I 'am' glad I switched it. Thanks again for the suggestion.

**Secret For Keeps:** That's true. And really, I 'am' taking characterization from all over the place. Subaru is most blatantly from TB, while Sei sort of bounces between the two. Kamui at least is definitely X. I'll let you decide for yourself whether or not Kamui gets mauled thoroughly enough, but Fuuma is definitely going to be darker than TRC. He hasn't yet done anything super horrible (which probably stems from me worrying about making him irredeemable), but we'll see what you think of ch. 6. *sly* Ah, yes, I do know that nothing is actually 'happening' with Su and Sei as of yet… but that's going to change like NOW. *blinks innocently* Next chapter Su will get dragged into it and things will happen. *nods* Thanks for the link! I checked it out. *always interested in more Kamui and Fuuma* Mou, but all the stories are so short! T_T

**Rivendellelve:** Yes! Thank you so much! That's exactly the scene I needed! You're a life saver! And now it's more obvious what I did wrong in ch. 6's scene… ^_^ *goes to fix it*

**The Philosopher's Queen:** Aw, just when I was starting to get her into Fu/Kam there's all this Sei/Su! *laugh* Ah, yes, TB's Subaru is irresistible. So cute! Once you understand where Sei and Su are coming from, you can't help but like them. *_* Don't worry about not knowing what Sei took from Fuuma—it will, of course, be explained shortly. It's not really one of the 'big' secrets in this story. ^_~

**Sute-hikahika:** Ah, so that's what happened! I wondered! I thought "ah" was a bit ambiguous, but I wasn't going to complain. XD Anyway, oo, good characterization catch! ~_~ (Dang it!) And we've worked so hard to keep all the characters in character too! But okay, really, I knew that it was impossible to be perfect, particularly since I'm trying to do this having only read the entirety of X/1999 _once_… Not to mention, everyone has a different idea of how characters should be. For example, I've got some people complaining that Kamui's too reserved, and other's saying he's just fine. (At least I expected 'that' conflict) Fuuma's difficult because… *backs up a sec* I've seen a couple authors portray Fuuma as something like a machine, whose only purpose is to fulfill wishes. I thought this was interesting but sort of strange until you mentioned this interesting bit of characterization I'd forgotten about. So I thought about it, but I can't come up with a single thing Fuuma did that 'couldn't' be viewed as the fulfillment of somebody's Wish. However, now I've got a problem. My version of Fuuma is not _Kamui_ and cannot see Wishes. He needs his own motivations. So I don't feel 'too' bad about leaving him with a revenge motive. *winces* Seishirou on the other hand… Oh goodness, I'm totally surprised 'someone' hasn't found/mentioned a Seishirou characterization problem yet. T_T I'm already running into problems with him left and right: 1) I wasn't sure in this chapter what Seishirou would do if Subaru ran into him seriously wounded. 2) Seishirou's the one with all the answers in this fic for the most part, but getting Seishirou to spill secrets? Tch. *feels the weight of hundreds of angry Sei/Su fans* 3) If Seishirou had been around after Subaru became Sakurazukamori, would he have taught Subaru what to do? This might not have come up in the manga, but I'm going to run right into it headfirst if I make Subaru a vampire. T_T

**The Lady Pendragon:** You changed your name! :o Oh, you're not such a horrible guesser! ^_~ You're right though, Fuuma isn't particularly upset about being a vampire. *tries to imagine Fuuma being freaked about killing people and bursts out laughing* I'm sorry, I just can't see a self-pitying Fuuma. Let's say it doesn't bother him either way. *sparkles with amusement* Mm, yeah, the thing I love about Kamui is those little sparks of anger and personality. Though I thought he was a bit of a brat in the beginning. I remind you of Anne Rice? Wow, that's probably an honor (though she writes PAGES of needless description in my opinion. Rar, if she'd just get to the plot!). Oh, you are so close with that line it's not even funny! *refuses to tell you which one* The truth behind that is, of course, at the core of my plot, so I can't divulge that information, but arg, you're making me want to… *pouts* Anyway, good catch again. That's exactly what I based the older boys' personalities on: Sei doesn't lie, but he says the truth in a way that'll make you perceive it the way he wants, and he's possessive of his things, and he simply doesn't 'care' about anyone else. Fuuma on the other hand isn't exactly telling the whole truth either. For instance, he tells Kamui he's going to find Subaru, but of course he doesn't care about Subaru at all. Except in his case, it's not that he's purposely misconstruing the truth, he just doesn't care how Kamui takes it and sees no reason to clarify. If Sei's the type to hide in the shadows and sneak in unnoticed, Fuuma's the type to walk up to the front gate (though he 'can' be careful when necessary). As for Subaru and Kamui becoming vampires… You'll see. *grins* No, actually, multiple characters 'will' die, they're just not necessarily 'main' characters, and some of them may not be as dead as they seem. ^_~ Oi, arg, once again, as soon as you said 'elusive' I knew exactly what you were talking about. I do that all the time, I swear. It's not that I don't know the correct word! Give me a sentence with the two choices and I'll pick the right one every time, but I have to be actively 'thinking' about it, whereas when I'm writing I'm reading the 'sentence' and 'paragraph' flow over 'individual words.' *headdesk* Thank you.

**Laustic:** *laugh* I won't kill you for liking Sei/Su! I like them too, obviously, or I wouldn't be writing them. The only reason you might hear me shriek at them is because I'm struggling really bad with Sei later on. ~_~

**Neko Roxas:** Yay! A Fu/Kam fan! Heh heh, we are slowly evening out with the Sei/Su fans! *secretly rooting for the Fu/Kam population*

**Nekoi:** Sorry if I embarrassed you. ^^;; It was just a really good point. And you were right, I 'should' have at least mentioned the arm was still broken. In this case, because I knew I'd mentioned it later, I didn't think about it. *sweat*

**Jaxard:** Hello to you too, Jax! ^_^ Ah, I certainly loved writing Fu and Kam's bite scene (though looking back now, I wish I'd made it longer—it feels a bit short to me). My Chara-Beta is upset because she thinks their bite scene was better than Su and Sei's in 'this' chapter. *smirks*

**Cheshire Cat:** Sugoi! Your entire review came through this time! *much relieved* I'm definitely glad my plot has become easier to understand. I bet there are still a lot of questions and curious readers though. ^_^ The next chapter is one of my favorites—I've been gnashing my teeth impatiently wanting to post it for quite awhile now. (There's a lot of Fuuma in it too)

**Shinken16:** Actually, I chose Kamui and Subaru to be twins simply because I needed already established connections so they'd have 'reasons' to try and find each other, but the fact that it fit in with TRC just worked out perfectly. And with that you just hit upon my second secret reason for writing this fic. After reading TB, I just couldn't see how Subaru managed to survive as a vampire in TRC. So my other reason for this fic is to show just how many things are 'wrong' with a vampire-ized Subaru. :D *is having too much fun in the later chapters*

**Billy:** *grins* Oh, I so totally refuse to say who turned Fuuma yet! The answer to 'that' question is going to take a bit. ^_^ (it's too important to give away just yet) But in this case, no, that's not what Fuuma is upset about.


	5. Revenge

**Warning: **This fic has officially been upgraded from a T rating to an M rating for a scene at the end that startled my Chara-Beta…The line between M and T can be rather fuzzy sometimes, and while some of you may think it's not that bad, I'd rather be safe than sorry, so to speak. Having never written a fic for the M category before, I'm rather twitchy about the whole thing, so we'll see how it goes… I may decide at a later date that this is just not working and then take out whatever lines are necessary to bring it back down into T. *twitch*

**Chapter 5**

Revenge

Fuuma was in Kamui's bedroom again, back propped up against the headboard, legs sprawled out across the thick blankets, one hand holding up yet another book on illusions turned just so the moonlight pouring in through the double windows would illuminate the pages. With his other hand he was absently sifting wisps of silken black hair between his fingers. Kamui was curled up sound asleep at his side. It was fast becoming a habit to spend long hours studying side by side with the sleeping boy—much more satisfying at least than holing up in some dusty corner. He paused in his reading as one small hand fisted cutely in the hem of his silk shirt. He thought at first Kamui had woken up, but the boy was still asleep, blissfully unaware of what he'd done. Absently, Fuuma wondered if the boy would still reach for him in his sleep if he knew what he did to him every night.

It was a shame really. Kamui had such lovely eyes—a deep amethyst color that glittered like distant stars in direct moonlight. It was a shame to keep those eyes permanently closed, but necessary. The bruises that had once marred Kamui's arms and legs and abdomen had faded to faint brown smudges. The boy's feet were also healing remarkably well, and he persisted in wanting to look for his brother once he could walk again. Fuuma couldn't have that. No, the boy was going to stay right where he was, firmly within Fuuma's grasp, even if he had to… _ensure_ the boy's continued docility.

Thoughtfully, Fuuma leaned down and kissed the two little marks on Kamui's neck. A promise. But not tonight at least. Kamui was almost painfully pale now, his heart thumping desperately loud but resolutely in Fuuma's ears, struggling against the blood loss. As a result, the boy was practically catatonic—drowning in sleep, unable to gather even the simple strength to get up. Which was exactly how Fuuma wanted it.

Gently, he brushed strands of hair away from those ever-lidded eyes. A shame.

* * *

Every time Kamui managed to drift awake for a few minutes, it was to find that increasingly larger chunks of time were slipping away from him. It was frightening to wake up and realize he didn't know how much time had passed: minutes or hours or days. And even during those rare moments when he was awake, his body felt sluggish, unresponsive. He spent most of his rare minutes of consciousness lying curled under the sheets, shivering, watching the curtains flutter in the faint wind, unable to find the will to move. He knew there were important things he should be doing, but he could hardly remember what they were anymore. Some days he would feel a little better, only to wake up the day after feeling weak and miserable again.

The maids at least tried to make sure he got regular meals, usually shaking him from slumber and staying to make sure he ate it all, all the while watching him with pitying eyes. Kamui hated it.

At least the lacerations on his feet no longer bled regularly. The bandages had finally been taken off permanently, and Kamui thought vaguely that if he could just find the strength to get up, he might be able to walk soon. Likewise, his arm hadn't quite completely healed, but he could move it a bit without getting painful reminders of its broken state. Inevitably though, before being able to do anything about it, he'd drift back off to sleep again …

* * *

Fuuma set his book aside with a sigh. Another week had passed, and he was tired of words that scrolled on for page after page—little black letters glaring balefully up at him. If he stared at them a second longer, he thought his brain might be permanently sucked into the parchment. Frustrated, he decided he needed a little distraction and flopped unceremoniously on the boy sprawled out beside him, resting his weight easily on his elbows. Kamui remained fast asleep, eyelids frozen shut. With sudden resolve, Fuuma realized he wanted to see the amethyst eyes those lids hid. He wanted to hear a _voice. _He wanted to _talk _to someone. In particular, he wanted to hear the boy say his name again with that pleasant voice of his. And trying to get a response from the comatose Kamui seemed like a fun challenge.

"Wake up," he whispered, grabbing a fistful of the boy's hair and yanking hard. The boy muttered something incomprehensible, moaning a little in his sleep. Fuuma glared at this response and yanked harder. "Kamui, wake up. Say something. Talk to me."

"Nng—Fuuma?" Kamui woke slowly, clouded amethyst eyes half covered by sleep-heavy eyelids. "What time is it?"

"Around midnight." Fuuma chuckled, amused by the cute frown the kid turned on him.

"Tired," Kamui mumbled, yawning for emphasis.

"I know. Stay with me. Talk to me. Ask me something." Anything to hear that voice some more.

Kamui stared up at him contemplatively for a long time, and for a few minutes Fuuma thought maybe he would fall asleep again, beyond the ability to hold the thread of rational conversations. Really, waking the boy up and then demanding he stay awake after draining him of so much energy wasn't really fair. He started to jerk on the boy's hair again, but Kamui swatted at him.

"Stop that!" The boy glowered, an adorably disgruntled look, which was broken by another huge yawn. He sighed. "Who was it? The one Seishirou-san took from you—who was it?" Kamui's voice was quiet, gentle. Fuuma tensed anyway and started to pull away, but one weak, pale hand rose to brush his cheek and something made him stay.

"My sister," he said.

"He killed her?"

"Yes."

Kamui stared up at him, trying to understand. It was taking a lot of concentration and effort to stay awake, and it didn't help that his view was partially blocked by… With his good hand, he reached up and slowly pulled the small, round shades from Fuuma's face, letting them drop to the blankets.

"You look better without them," he said by way of explanation. It was true. Without the glasses, Fuuma's eyes were a molten gold. Kamui thought it looked a bit like someone had liquefied the sunlight Fuuma would never see and trapped it forever in his eyes. It was most unfair. Kamui sighed, feeling the constant drowsiness start to pull him back down again.

"How did she die?" he asked suddenly, more to keep himself awake.

Fuuma was silent for a few minutes, contemplating the past. Part of him shied away from those memories—from images of blood-soaked villages that he could still see when he closed his eyes. He'd never told anyone before—in all those years, he'd never told a soul, and he certainly wasn't going to suddenly tell a… He looked down into wide purple eyes tilted quizzically at him, and words tumbled from his lips.

"It was a long time ago." He had no idea why he said it. It certainly wasn't for a pair of pretty eyes. And there really wasn't any point telling a boy who would have to die in a few days. Maybe _because _it was pointless… Slowly, he told the boy of life decades ago, of living with his sister after their parents died, promising to keep her safe—told Kamui how he'd woken up to his sister's screams, to a strange woman with long black hair dragging him out of bed, clamping a hand over his mouth so tight he was practically suffocating. He could still remember her pale, tiny fingers, far too fragile for such a powerful grip. In his mind he heard her calling out "_Seishirou_!" Saw his sister, lying limply in another stranger's arms. Heard them whispering something urgently. Felt the total helplessness as it consumed him, because he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe, _he couldn't breathe! _

And then… nothing.

He'd woken up the night after, buried under bits and pieces of what had been their village, surrounded by a field of corpses—neighbors, friends, enemies. His sister… she'd been one of them, lying there brokenly like so much garbage. He'd been so distraught, he hadn't at first realized there was anything wrong with him, anything different…

Fuuma trailed off, blinking the present back into focus, half startled to find himself lying on a soft bed in the moonlight with a sleeping black-haired boy beneath him. Kamui… Kamui had fallen asleep. Fuuma smiled a bit exasperatedly, but he really couldn't fault the boy. He rolled over onto his side and for the longest time laid there staring at the ceiling.

Everything he knew about Seishirou was one disaster after another, starting with the slaughtering of his own home village and ending with the massacre of the village in which a certain pair of brothers had taken refuge. Fuuma had never figured out the identity of the woman who had been with Seishirou that first time. He'd never seen her again. Maybe Seishirou had killed her too. It didn't matter. _She _didn't matter. The only one he cared about was the one holding the limp body of his sister that night.

It was about time someone teach Seishirou what it meant to lose someone.

* * *

By the end of the second week, Fuuma had finally found the information he needed. Piles of displaced books standing on tables and shelves and even a few scattered around Kamui's bedroom attested to the thoroughness of his search. He wondered absently whether the boy ever noticed the books that often got left on his blankets the few times he was conscious and what he thought about their strange content.

He hadn't touched Kamui for several nights. The boy had been awfully thin and weak, and Fuuma had left him alone for fear his frail body wouldn't be able to sustain itself much longer. But that night he went to Kamui again, needing to renew the pull of the bond with the other brother that had dissipated with time. He was careful, feeling the fluttering of the boy's heart in his chest under the palm of one hand, and a little hasty, impatient to be off now that he had what he needed. Kamui woke as he was laid back down, staring up at him with blurry amethyst eyes.

"Go back to sleep," Fuuma whispered. "Everything's all right. Go back to sleep." He waited for Kamui to nod tiredly, then turned and glided out the door, out into the night, and onto the street. Navigating through the city was a slow process. There were just enough people still out in the city after dark that running would have attracted unwanted attention. Other things besides vampires prowled the streets at night. In particular, Fuuma didn't want to deal with any hunters. Careless use of inhuman speed would attract unwanted attention. So he slowed his walk to that of other shoppers, painstakingly making his way through the streets, passing fruit stands and butcher shops and, in the very center of the city, the temple. Fuuma had never paid the temple much attention—some occult religion about the end of the world and a vessel that would be the bearer of God's will. Ridiculous.

Once he reached the forest, he was finally free to run openly, flitting from tree to tree with unnatural speed, gracefully avoiding rocks and roots and treacherous footing. Finally, he found himself back at that large, empty house that seemed to loom out of the forest. Fuuma wasn't fooled this time. Calling upon the words from the books he'd studied, he broke the illusion, watching as it seemed to dissolve into thousands of petals before fading completely. Reality settled into the hole where the illusion had been. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the sakura trees at least had been real. They weren't near as tame or as perfect as in the illusion, but they were real—wild, twisted branches reaching for the sky. The house, on the other hand… At one time there _had _been a house, but it was long gone. Where once proud walls had stood, now only crumbling pieces of foundation remained.

Fuuma made his way through the bits of rock and rubble, jumping gracefully from one unsteady stone to another. He could still feel the pull of the boy coming from somewhere beneath him, somewhere in the ground. It was an odd feeling at first—if he hadn't known better, he would have said the boy had been buried alive. But no, there would have been no pull if the boy had been dead—not to mention no reason to guard the body so well. That meant he was simply underground, and there had to be some way to get in around there somewhere…

Bits of rusty metal stuck out of the foundation at odd angles and moss-covered mulch that had once been doors and posts littered the ground. Finally, Fuuma came to the remnants of a door—twisted and decaying and really beyond repair, but remarkably intact considering what was left of the rest of the building. He pried it back easily, revealing stone steps descending into what at one time might have been a basement but was now quite thoroughly blocked by huge fragments of the solid foundation. Fuuma sighed. It was impassible. No good. He started to turn away… then stopped. This was Seishirou he was dealing with after all. What if… Upon further inspection, Fuuma realized that the floor above the passageway was littered with debris, but still quite firm. Where then had all that rubble come from that had fallen down inside? An illusion inside an illusion.

Resting one hand against what felt like a pile of solid, unyielding rocks, he again called out the words of the books he'd studied and watched as the rocks dissolved like the first illusion. In their place, a series of well-maintained doors appeared, the first of which was locked and had to be forced. Then he was standing in a dark hallway.

He realized pretty quickly that Seishirou wasn't there. It _smelled_ of Seishirou—that old Power smell again—but there was only one other presence, one faint heartbeat, amid all the empty rooms around him, and it came from the same direction as the pull that was echoing in his blood. The brother. It was a bit annoying to have done all that work only to find that the man wasn't even there. But the boy…

He followed the slight _whisk _sound of pages being turned and found the boy curled up on a bed, book in hand. For being brothers, Fuuma decided, there wasn't much resemblance. This boy's hair was black, it was true, but straighter and finer, not so unruly as Kamui's. He was also small, but not so tiny, and of course, there were the eyes. When he looked up as Fuuma entered the room he flashed brilliant emerald eyes, so different from the sad amethyst ones of the boy back on Fuuma's bed. And when he spoke…

"Oh! Hello! I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Are you one of Seishirou-san's friends?" So innocent. So polite.

"I'm afraid I'm not." Fuuma smirked and closed the distance between them, slipping up onto the bed too quickly for human eyes to register, knees coming up on either side of the boy's hips to keep him pinned. Subaru gasped at the sudden closeness, instinctively jerking back. Fuuma followed, not letting him escape, shoving him down the rest of the way onto the bed.

"O-Oh, I… Ah…" the boy started stuttering. Fuuma ignored it, catching the boy's chin in a bruising grip and staring down into those large, green eyes.

"Does Seishirou care so much about you?" he whispered, almost crushing the boy's face. Those large, green eyes filled with pain, but he didn't say anything. "Are you so precious to him? Does he think he can keep you safe down here?" Fuuma released the boy, only to reach down and rake one nail slowly through the thin fabric of his shirt, shredding it easily, revealing all that smooth, unblemished skin. Not as pretty as Kamui's, an annoying voice noticed matter-of-factly in the back of his mind—a voice he steadfastly ignored. Besides, that skin wouldn't remain unblemished for long…

Cruelly, he increased his grip on the boy's thin arms, digging his nails into the soft skin and feeling the sticky blood coat his fingers, warm and wonderful. Smiling pleasantly, he slowly slid one red-coated hand down the boy's arm, leaving finger-paint trails, until he found one small hand and laced their fingers together, smearing the boy's blood further. Then he lifted their joined hands to his lips and licked the blood from the boy's delicate fingers, sucking gently, staring down at the helpless boy beneath him thoughtfully. Subaru made no sound of pain or pleasure, simply staring in quiet distress, powerless against the stronger man.

Once one hand had been licked clean satisfactorily, Fuuma's eyes flicked open. Slowly, he leaned down and lapped at the boy's exposed, smooth abdomen. Then, with sudden brutality, he bit down, piercing pale skin. The boy jerked a bit into Fuuma's hold, an involuntary response, but remained silent. Fuuma bit deeper, harder, ignoring the blood his attentions drew. He wanted the boy to scream—scream the way he'd heard his sister screaming, the way he could still hear that scream ringing in his skull.

Still no sound.

Frustrated, he raked at the boy's pants, hard enough to tear through the fabric… and the skin beneath. But biting hard into the boy's inner thigh didn't produce a sound either. He growled softly, irritated.

Subaru remained still. He didn't understand the strange man who'd suddenly shown up in his doorway or why he was doing this. But he understood that something in the stranger was hurt and that hurting him in turn somehow made the pain a little easier for the man to bear. He didn't hate the stranger. If taking the abuse was the only thing he could do to help, then so be it, he would gladly take it. So he lay still, biting his lip to keep from crying out, and waited for whatever would come next…

Fuuma sat up to glare down at those blank, green eyes. The blood that was slowly trickling down the boy's inner thigh and stomach and slowly drying on thin arms didn't make him happy. Neither did seeing his marks, the little indentations of his fangs, on the otherwise unmarred skin of Seishirou's precious pet. He didn't understand. This was supposed to make things better—this was supposed to make up for the years of pain and anger Kotori's death had caused. He had what he wanted. So why did he still hurt?

In the end, he slid one hand clean through the boy's abdomen, licked the blood fastidiously from his hand and left him to bleed to death…

* * *

After Fuuma left, Subaru's shock-saturated mind could only think one thing: _Seishirou-san would be upset about the mess he was making all over the pretty, white sheets_. Like a loop, endlessly repeating itself, the thought that terrified him more than anything else. _Seishirou-san would be upset about the mess_.

Curled into a helpless, bloody ball, Subaru began to shake. _Seishirou-san would be upset_. He had to get off the bed. He had to… the bathroom… Subaru got jerkily to his feet. Black spots erupted before his vision and then died down briefly as he stumbled forward, clinging feebly to the doorframe with shaking fingers. He forced himself to continue, pushing into the dark corridor, hand sliding weakly along the wall… shaking, he was shaking so badly. _Seishirou-san would be… _He collapsed with a sob, frustrated that his legs didn't seem to be working properly, and then he couldn't seem to stop sobbing. _Seishirou-san was going to be sooo mad. _

He tried to crawl, to force stiff arms to jerk him forward, but it was no good. He was bleeding all over the place and his hands slid in the sticky wetness of it and it was no good, no good, _no good!_

_Seishirou-san_...

One hand, scrabbling in the blood. Desperate. Panicked.

…_would be_…

The floor, rushing up.

_Seishirou-san_...

* * *

Fuuma walked through the doors of his own home, strangely desperate to see a pair of amethyst eyes framed by dark, unruly hair—to hear a soft voice whisper his name, cry out the way the green-eyed one hadn't. However, when he opened the bedroom door, the room was empty. Double-checking, he crossed to the bed, but no… Probably just in a different room. Then maybe the bathroom… No again. Steps increasing in speed as desperation grew, he flew from room to empty room, finally coming to a halt in the entranceway with deadly calm. Something was pinched painfully tight inside him, something cold and sickening, and he didn't know what it was. Slowly, he examined the house with his senses, listening for a heartbeat, the vibrations of footsteps, a smell… but all his senses told him the same thing…

Kamui was gone.

* * *

**Author Note:** Dual cliffhangers. Could I be more evil? ^_^ And finally, the first switch point. Up till now, Fuuma and Kamui have been dominating the action (with the exception of ch. 4). Now it's Subaru and Sei who will get longer scenes as they try to deal with the repercussions of this little disaster. As for Kamui… well, let's just say Fuuma isn't going to be happy when he finally finds him. ^_~

And with that… I have a 4-digit hit count, finally crossed into the 20k word count mark (length-wise, that means I'm now grouped among the top 50 stories or 3.75%), and completed chapters 8, 9 and part of 10… *huff, pant, wheeze* From the vantage point of ch. 10, let me tell you, it doesn't feel any closer to the end. Heaven forbid, if I should manage to get this finished… we should celebrate. o_o

A note from Fuuma:

Q) Could I have simply used compulsion to make Kamui stay?  
A) Yes, but where would the fun have been in that? More importantly, some humans can resist it, and even if they can't, other times a traumatic experience will break the mental command anyway. 'Physical' restraints are much more 'certain' than mental ones.

P.S.: _Special thanks to Sute and JJ for clarifying some canon questions for me... even if I didn't exactly use their answers the way they thought. ^^_

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** You're right. ^_^ Now I probably have readers thinking "_This _is what all the fuss was about?" But oh well. Hee, sometimes I hit on a good metaphor. Of course, other times I fail miserably. ^^ (I have way too many butterfly/wing metaphors, huh?) I can never tell if it's working the way I want or not. *goes to work out a few more of the flaws with the new chapters*

**Jaxard:** *laughs at the image of the boys being forced to "eat up each other alive"* Fuuma: *predator grin* "That could be arranged…" *catches Kamui and drags him kicking and flailing into his arms* Ah-hem. In any case, I guess it feels awkward to me, because while you're right about Sei and Subaru needing a bit more time, technically they've been together for seven years—you'd think they'd be a little further along by now. But I guess that's because Subaru didn't know about Sei being a vampire. It sort of stalled things...

**The Philosopher's Queen:** Me and dark scenes… *sweats* Yeah, there's going to be a lot of them. It's just… they're so pretty! I can't help it! *random voices pop up in the background from A Bug's Life, completing the quote* "Don't go towards the light!" :ninja: Okay, I have no idea where that came from. I guess that's my way of saying it makes me all glowy to know you seem to have liked the ending scene and that I didn't muck it up as badly as initially feared after the revamping. ^^;

**Rivendellelve:** *sweat* Um, scratch the "is going to" part, Subaru just did die young. ^_^;; I really didn't intend to maul poor Subaru so often, it just turned out that way. More so ever since I revamped the end scene of ch. 4 to be painful too. And the poor kid, the next chapter isn't going to be any easier on him.

**Sakurazuka-chan:** *giggles and imagines having made anyone swoon* Well, at the moment I write this, it looks like I'm going to go ahead and give the M-rating thing a shot, though um, *blush* it's not M for yaoi. ~_~ Just for violence. But I enjoyed your review! Thank you!

**Billy:** Now you got it! ^_~ I'm glad you enjoyed the Sei/Su last chapter. I'm sorry there was so little of them this time, but obviously the next several chapters will have lots more of them as they struggle to deal with the repercussions. So they won't get left out again for quite awhile at least. Ah, the problem with making anything M-rated (I really hope you find this again since your anonymous reviews don't allow me to reply directly) is that this site shows only K-T ratings automatically. In order to see M-rated fics, you have to set the rating option to "M" or "All." That may seem obvious, but a lot of people don't realize that. And oh yes, the whole of the last chapter was designed 'almost' solely to introduce a couple key points: there are people out there capable of hurting even Seishirou, and some of them aren't just trying to kill him. I'm glad you caught that. I was really worried everyone would be too focused on what was happening 'between' the boys to notice that Seishirou was dropping hints...

**Laustic:** Thank you! Well, here I was all worried about getting Sei and Su right, and it seems I didn't do as bad as I thought! ^_^ I hope you'll like chapter 6 too—it also has a lot of Seishirou and Subaru.

**Nekoi:** *laughs* Wish granted! Lots of Fuuma this time! ^_~ Eh heh heh. Yeah, I've twisted that a bit around from the X canon. *winces* I hope all those rules about Power and Blood weren't too confusing… I worried about that. I even tried to use the entire end of the last chapter to 'show' it, but I still feel like it was too much all at once. ^_^;

**The Lady Pendragon:** Oh yes, definitely—Sei can tell himself whatever he wants, but it won't be so easy to just get rid of Subaru. He justifies keeping the boy, minimizing the boy's importance, but when it comes down to it, he goes way farther out of his way to keep the boy than he would for a mere object. So maybe Sei would kill Su if it was 'convenient,' but convenient for Sei to kill Su is equivalent to convenient for Frodo to dump the Ring in Mt. Doom. Translation: not going to happen any time soon. *smiles pleasantly* "Fuuma couldn't care less about him…" *laughs* Actually… over the course of the last several weeks, Fuuma has slowly become accustomed to having Kamui around, and he is now learning a rather painful lesson about losing him. *smiles* Aaaaand… you made a really good point. I didn't mean to make it look like Subaru had forgotten about Kamui. I think when I wrote it I was worried about making Kamui and Subaru 'too' worried about each other, because I didn't want there to be any possible Sub/Kam misunderstanding. So in an effort to take out anything that might be misconstrued as such, I inadvertently made it seem like they didn't care at all, huh? You're right, it's not that Subaru has forgotten by any means, the author just wasn't thinking about it. ^^; *giggles suddenly* Oh, I like that description… "passionate." *goes around repeating it to herself* Fuuma definitely has fewer physical… ah, self-imposed _restrictions _than Seishirou, but that might be because he isn't worried about what Kamui will think of him or about keeping up any sort of pretense, whereas Seishirou is stuck between being unsure how much Subaru can take and (up till now) playing the trustworthy family friend. In some ways, I feel like Fuuma is at least more open and honest about what he is.

**Naru-Kyou:** ^_^ I'm glad you thought it sounded interesting enough to come back! Heh, I always struggle with where the line is when it comes to ratings. I will say this at least, I try to be a rather 'clean' writer: I don't do sexually explicit content or (rather randomly) swearing. If I even think what I'm writing might get me kicked off , I won't write it. There might be times when for one reason or another characters lose clothes (I swear I don't plan these things, they just come spur of the moment while I'm writing! T_T), but it'll never be for explicit scenes. I do love horror though, so if anything's going to get me into trouble, it will be that. And while the ending scene to this chapter was important, admittedly I 'could' have altered it to avoid the loss of clothes. *abashed* Dealing with an M-rating for the sake of three lines seems sort of ridiculous to me. We'll see what happens...

**Maya:** *grins* It's a good thing you like Sei and Subaru, because there's going to be a lot of them in the next few chapters. ^_~ I do hope you'll keep reading!


	6. A Change

**Note:** *amazed* I absolutely have to give LadyPendragon many cookies! Lots of stars! *thrilled* I expected all the guesses over "did Kamui run away?" or "was Kamui kidnapped?" but I never, NEVER thought someone would peg it so perfectly! :D

**Chapter 6**

A Change

Through the darkness that was muddling his mind, Kamui knew one thing and one thing only with absolute certainty: he had to find Subaru. It was a sudden and deep-rooted uneasiness. Something had happened. Something was wrong. He needed to find Subaru NOW! He didn't stop to think about how he was going to find his twin or even how he planned to get there when he was cold and dizzy all the time; he simply swung his legs over the side of the bed and hopped to the floor in a sort of daze, hardly noticing that his feet didn't even twinge under the pressure now. But black spots erupted across his vision, the world swaying dangerously for a few moments, and he clung weakly to one bedpost until it stopped. Then, resolutely, he padded across the carpet and out into the hall.

Fuuma's home turned out to be practically deserted at night, and Kamui ran into no maids or staff, which was just as well, since he didn't plan to let anyone stop him. He wound around several hallways and a flight of stairs, suddenly realizing just how expansive the house was, and how little of it he'd actually seen, before finally finding the entryway. Under normal circumstances he might have frozen in awe at the sheer height of it or stopped to examine the huge framed paintings on the walls, but he was too distracted to notice, hurrying down the length of it without a backward glance and pulling the heavy front door open. He finally paused momentarily when he suddenly found himself at the top of a flight of stairs, the city sprawling out before him endlessly, briefly overwhelmed. But that same sense of wrongness beat at him until he stumbled down the steps and into the teaming streets.

Immediately the rush of people overwhelmed him—the shoving and bumping and cries of "Hey, watch it!" His head started to spin, and he grasped for the rough outer wall of a nearby building until it cleared and he could stumble on. In his chest, his heart was beating painfully loud and too slow, unable to keep up. He forced himself to continue, to take the next step and the step after that down alleyways where the crowd dissipated and he didn't feel like he was suffocating continuously. Still, a sheen of sweat had broken out across his skin, and as he continued, alleyways seemed to get darker and darker, sometimes disappearing in large blotches before him. He panted, hopelessly lost in the tangle of streets, concentrating too hard on staying on his feet to notice the prickle of watching eyes from somewhere in the teaming throng behind him.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Except finding Subaru. He had to find Subaru. His whole being was consumed by that one thought. If he could just keep going, if he could just find Subaru… He stumbled, the world finally disappearing in the biggest black spot yet, and felt the solid wall beside him seem to turn to sand against his hand, and he fell…

* * *

Across the city, at the top of a flight of steps that overlooked the urban bustle below, Fuuma was still reeling with the realization Kamui was gone, that he wouldn't suddenly hear the boy's pretty voice calling and realize it had all been a mistake. For a few moments he felt as if the ground had been pulled out from under him, an odd falling feeling. And when he came back to his senses—when he realized what he should have realized from the start—that the boy's blood was still inside him, fainter now, but inexorably pulling him toward the city, linking them—it was with an annoying tightness in his stomach, a deep cold crawling through him, silent and deadly. With deliberate calm, he headed in the direction of the faint pull that was Kamui, slightly off from the quickly fading pull that was Subaru. And as he made his way into the crowd on the streets, that terrible numbness twisting inside him, he vowed that if he couldn't have the boy's voice, he'd have the boy's screams…

* * *

Seishirou knew something was wrong as soon as he set foot through the door. It was the smell. It was overwhelming, hanging heavily in the air, thick enough to choke on. Blood. Sickeningly sweet. Unmistakable. Someone had been there! Someone had gotten in! Backing up against the wall with a snarl, he covered his nose in a vain attempt to defend against the stench that was burning his senses and listened intently for traces of the intruders. For several minutes he didn't move, still as stone, completely focused on any little sound that might filter through the walls. But all he could hear was one faint heartbeat a room away, and it was stuttering, slowing… Not a threat. Strange.

He remained still a few minutes longer, starting to adjust to the overpowering scent of blood—slowly beginning to get used to it, until suddenly he recognized that sickeningly sweet smell that was saturating the room. Identified it with a person. Subaru. Only Subaru ever smelled that sweet. But why, why, why did his whole home smell like the boy's blood? It was so strong…

Then he was running, feet flying over the floor towards the sound of that faint heartbeat, hoping it wasn't… knowing it was… until he came to a shocked halt in the hall outside the boy's room. The smell was stronger there than ever, burning his nose, stinging his eyes. There were bloody handprints like the last faint fluttering of wings on the wall, small and delicate. The floor leading into the room beyond was a trail of little red puddles, scuffed by jerky footprints. And lying crumpled in the middle of the hall, in the largest puddle of all, was Subaru, skin snow-white compared to the spreading vivid stain beneath him.

For a few seconds Seishirou could only stand there, frozen. Then he jerked suddenly toward the boy with an incoherent cry of outrage, bending down and grasping one pale shoulder, roughly turning him over, noticing the way all that blood had coated the side of Subaru's face, sticking to his cheek. Black, blood-matted hair clung to Seishirou's hand where he supported the boy's head. With a gentle brush of his thumb, brilliant red streaks smeared across that pale skin. Slowly, his eyes traveled lower, past the bloody cuts in the boy's arms, only to stare at the gaping hole in his abdomen.

_Too late_, his mind told him dispassionately. Far too late. The boy had lost too much blood, and the damage was too great.

_Subaru was going to die… _

And suddenly the world seemed hollow, unbearably empty, the silence ringing in his ears. Where his hand gripped the boy's arm, the skin felt cold as winter wind, the heat seeping out of it. Seishirou wrapped an arm around the boy, grasping the other bloody shoulder, and pulled the boy into his lap to get him off that cold floor, noting the way the head lolled back brokenly, the way the boy weighed nothing in his arms.

_Subaru was going to die… _

It was only then, as he shifted the frail body to better keep that wretched cold from steeling it, that he saw the marks… His eyes narrowed, glinted a dangerous gold, and he reached out to brush fingertips lightly over the twin marks that marred the boy's inner thigh. A biting, furious cold swept through him. Someone had touched… Someone had marked… No! The boy was _his_! All his! Everything that was Subaru—his emerald eyes, his smile, his body, his blood—was Seishirou's. No one else could have them. No one else was allowed to touch him. Hurt him.

_Subaru was going to die… _

No! He wouldn't stand for it! No one was allowed to take the boy away from him! Subaru wouldn't leave him. Subaru would _never _leave him again.

Subaru was not going to die!

Not until he said so. But the boy was already so pale, breathing shallowly into his shoulder. If he lost any more blood… But there was no helping it. Besides, those marks had to be erased. He wouldn't stand to see such a mark of possession on that which was _his._ Shifting the boy slightly in his arms, he leaned down and gently licked the marks free of blood, nothing if not neat, before biting down over top of them. Replacing them. Erasing them. He swallowed once, that sweet blood filling him, then licked the new marks clean and sat up, acutely aware of each thump of the boy's heart. So slow now. No time to lose.

Carefully supporting Subaru's head, he jabbed one nail into his own wrist and held it up so that the warm flow of blood dripped steadily into the boy's mouth, splattering over chilled, slightly-parted lips, until the cut in his wrist healed.

There was no reaction.

"Come on, Subaru-kun," Seishirou muttered, stroking that slender throat gently in an attempt to coax the boy to swallow, watching the porcelain-pale face for the slightest movement. "Drink it." Long, agonizing seconds passed. Then finally, _finally _Subaru swallowed… and promptly started choking, entire body jerking weakly before lapsing back into stillness. Quickly, Seishirou slit his wrist open again, holding it up once more until the boy's mouth filled with the blood and the slit healed, waiting patiently for Subaru to swallow before repeating the whole thing again. And again. Until finally the boy was swallowing regularly and Seishirou could simply hold his nail to his wrist to prevent it from healing. And the whole time, Seishirou held the limp little body in his arms with an infinite patience procured by the weight of centuries. Something inside him was pleased with the knowledge Subaru was drinking _his _blood, pleased to know it was _his_ blood that was filling that slender throat, invading that delicate body, changing him.

For a time the darkness was filled with a languid sense of peace and pleasure. Then Subaru shuddered in his arms, and he quickly pulled the boy closer to his chest, tightening his hold, pinning that frail body carefully but securely in his arms. No sooner had he done so than the boy's entire body tensed. There was a gasp, and the boy convulsed, head falling back. Pain-glazed green eyes stared up at Seishirou, wide and blank. Then the boy started thrashing. Small fingers dug into his shoulders, tight enough for fingernails to leave bloody crescent moons against his skin. Little hiccup-like gasps were buried in his shirt as the boy swallowed the screams that were almost tearing him apart.

Though Seishirou could only vaguely remember the pain himself, like a memory of a memory, faint and faded from time, he could remember not wanting to repeat the experience. It was in his blood, an echo of an earth-shattering agony. And Subaru was so fragile. He could feel the convulsions that wracked the frail body in his arms and tightened his hold even more, wrapping the boy up protectively in an attempt to shield him. Nothing was allowed to hurt Subaru. Nothing.

Then finally the convulsions diminished and the boy slumped, panting weakly, in his arms, head resting against his shoulder, a sheen of sweat coating that fair skin, before falling into an exhausted sleep. Seishirou held him for a few moments longer, brushing bloodied hair away from lidded eyes, before lifting him into the bathroom. Once the blood and sweat were washed away with careful caresses of a washcloth, it was easy to see the unblemished skin of the boy's abdomen where before there had been a gaping wound. Whole again.

When he was satisfied that the boy was clean enough, he lifted him back into his arms and carried him down a hallway to a locked door. The room beyond was sparsely furnished compared to the rest of his home. The few things that decorated it were neither pretty nor valuable, but utterly priceless—a cylindrical case, a black glove, a pendant in the form of a broken, golden circle with a sword upright through the center on a thick chain. It was time Subaru joined them. Seishirou set the boy down on the bed along the far wall—_his_ bed. Really, the boy had belonged there from the start. He watched his lovely, living, little addition to his room for a few minutes, before reluctantly standing up. There were things that had to be done before sleeping, and there wasn't much time left.

Seconds later, he was standing back above ground, eyes closed, examining the shattered remnants of the broken wards. Crude, he decided. Whoever had broken the illusions had done so using pure force. Those had been _good_ illusions too. But as bothersome as it was to discover there was someone out there with that much strength, more worrisome was the illusion that _hadn't _been broken—the one he'd woven from his own Power—a special maboroshi that should have alerted him if someone approached. It was almost as if the one who'd gotten in had walked right through it, and that was particularly disturbing. He could reweave the illusions, attempt to make them stronger—that would at least provide protection against anyone else wandering in uninvited, but he didn't hold out hope that it would keep out whoever had broken them the first time. He glanced at the horizon and frowned. No time to look into it tonight. Quickly, he replaced what he could, deftly rebuilding the complex illusions, before turning back and rejoining Subaru inside.

He slipped silently under the red-stitched, black, velvet blankets, little gold tassels swinging at the motion, and pulled the boy into his arms, watching over him as the sun rose above the horizon, pulling them both into a deep sleep.

* * *

Kamui was vaguely surprised when his inevitable meeting with the street was interrupted by a pair of arms sweeping him up into the air. It left him with a disoriented feeling, like gravity had been temporarily suspended. Or maybe that was just part of the dizziness and nausea that had been plaguing him. He tilted his head up to get a look at his rescuer, recognizing the little oval shades almost instantly. Then he was being carried. Kamui's brain kicked back in at this, protesting loudly.

"No, no…" Kamui squirmed, struggling against Fuuma's hold. "Subaru. I have to find Subaru." They were going the wrong direction. Fuuma was surely taking him home, and he couldn't go back yet. Subaru needed him. He had to keep looking. They couldn't go this way! It was all wrong! He twisted plaintively until Fuuma's hold suddenly tightened on him, and he was forced to still with a whimper or be crushed by that grip, finally realizing something was wrong. The look on the man's face was frightening.

Fuuma didn't say a word the entire time he carried Kamui home, and Kamui held very still and tried to make himself small, which wasn't hard considering his present condition, certain that the silence was more ominous than any words. Fuuma carried him all the way back into the bedroom and sat down on the bed, Kamui still in his arms. Then, finally, the man spoke.

"So you can walk now…" Fuuma's voice was soft, amused, but his mouth was set in a firm line and his eyes were perfectly blank. One of his hands played absently with the hem of Kamui's pants' leg, pushing the fabric up higher and higher as he trailed light fingertips over the pale, thin leg beneath. "We can't have that…" The fingertips paused dangerously halfway along one pale calf. "Maybe we'll just have to break something else…" Kamui didn't even have time to tense. With vicious precision, Fuuma's hand came down sharply on his leg, snapping the bone. The result was instantaneous.

Kamui screamed. Head thrown back, he rent the night with his raw, broken voice. Fuuma listened rapturously to the piercing notes as the boy screamed again, shattering the darkness, until the screams dissolved into choked sobs. Then he chuckled maliciously and bent down to whisper into the boy's ear.

"Beautiful." He pulled the broken boy close, feeling the sobs that wracked the small body reverberating against his chest, before pressing his face to the boy's head, enjoying the feathery feel of the fine black hair against his lips and skin. He listened, content, as the dry sobbing gradually slowed. Kamui wouldn't leave him...

Once the pain had died down enough for color to return to the world, Kamui fought his way to coherency, gritting his teeth and clinging to Fuuma's shirt with single-minded determination—clung like it was his only link to rational thought. He couldn't let go of that shirt. He _could not _let go. There was something important—something beyond the pain—something he must not forget yet, even if it would make Fuuma angrier. He knew he had to make the man understand.

"Subaru…" he panted, the words coming in little bursts of clarity, "needs me… Subaru… hurt."

"Subaru's dead." The voice was flat, cold. Kamui blinked, not understanding. Clearly, the pain was worse than he'd thought, messing with his hearing…

"What?"

"Subaru's dead."

"Dead…" Kamui echoed, and his hands let go of Fuuma's shirt, falling… falling…

He didn't understand. He'd… failed? He'd been too late? Seishirou had… Subaru. Seishirou had…

It never occurred to him to ask _who_ had killed Subaru. In Kamui's mind, there was only one possibility.

Long fingers hooked under his jaw and tilted his chin up till gold eyes stared down at him. A thumb brushed his cheek.

"Stay with me, Kamui." And he wondered why that voice sounded so… desperate. Surely that wasn't right. "Stay with me. Don't ever leave." Something warm ran down his cheek. Kamui blinked, but that only caused the world to distort further, gaining a brilliant sheen. It wasn't just his leg that hurt anymore, it was his entire body. Then he was shuddering and Fuuma's hands were cupping his face as the man gently licked the tears away, which only caused Kamui to cry harder, until the world dissolved into a crystalline kaleidoscope.

Kamui was never sure when he fell asleep, only that the darkness was welcoming and somehow warm, and he felt strangely safe.

* * *

Seishirou woke first, mildly surprised to find a black-haired, snow-skinned boy curled tiredly in his arms, before the events of the previous night flooded back into his mind with vivid clarity. Coming home to find someone had shattered his illusions, broken in, and Subaru… Subaru… Seishirou's eyes darkened. The one responsible was going to have a very unfortunate meeting as soon as Seishirou could arrange it. Of course, tracking down the intruder was going to be a bit difficult, considering the whole place still reeked of blood, effectively obliterating any other scent. It was a sort of personal insult that someone had not only managed to break his illusions, but had tainted his most precious possession and was _still alive_.

Seishirou glared at the wall above Subaru's head. Their home had been desecrated. The walls that had once protected them—shielded them from the outside—had been defiled, splattered with the blood of the very ones they were designed to protect. Now they stood, hollow and broken, shrieking their alarm with every creak and groan that issued from those tortured hallways: "Not safe! Not safe!" The call echoed down dark corridors and resonated in the very air, infusing in the inhabitants a sense of wariness and deep unease. Seishirou wanted with a strange ferocity to get Subaru out of there—to take him far away and hide him so thoroughly no one would ever find him again. No one would ever touch him. Or hurt him. Or take him away. But it wouldn't matter. As much as he hated it, he was certain they had been found in the first place through Kamui's blood. If that was the case, they could be tracked down anywhere. Seishirou didn't like being that vulnerable, but if there was nothing that could be done about it (and he certainly wasn't giving up Subaru), staying suited him just fine. This way he could face their intruder properly. Seishirou smiled darkly and clutched the boy tighter, determined not to let Subaru out of his sight.

Thoughtfully, he petted pitch-black hair and rested his chin on top of the boy's head, resolutely ignoring the hunger that gnawed at him. Changing the boy had been a pleasant but draining experience. Pleasant and… satisfying. Something about knowing Subaru would stay with him, forever, just the way he was now, filled him with satisfaction. Not even time could steal the boy from him, not anymore. Subaru would always be… perfect. Of course, this also meant teaching the boy how to hunt… The thought of Subaru taking some human into his embrace, lips brushing someone else's soft skin, _needing _anyone else at all made Seishirou growl with displeasure. But before he could dwell too much on the implications of that particularly irritating thought, he realized he was being watched by a pair of exhausted, emerald eyes.

Subaru shuddered, watching the face above him. It wasn't anything obvious, but he could tell Seishirou was angry. He winced, feeling a bit as if he'd been hit. He felt funny, and everything was a bit too bright, a bit too clear, and he was vaguely hungry, and for some reason that scared him, and it was wrong, all wrong, but Seishirou was angry, Seishirou was angry, _Seishirou was angry_… Timidly, he twisted shaking fingers in Seishirou's shirt, ignoring the strange new sensations that were beating at his consciousness, afraid that he would be pushed away despite the man's firm embrace. Surely Seishirou hated him now. Surely Seishirou would want to get rid of him. After all, he'd messed everything up, and there was something _wrong_ with him now. He could sense it inside himself—something out of place. Something different. Something _wrong_. And it was terrifying. If the man didn't want him, he could understand that, but he didn't want to be left alone. Anything but that. Tears caught in long lashes, blurring the world a little more.

"I'm sorry!" he whispered, staring down, afraid to meet those amber eyes, afraid to face the rejection that would surely come next. "Please don't be mad! I'm sorry!"

"What?" Seishirou blinked down at the boy blankly, trying to make sense of his words. Not only was this _not_ the reaction he'd been expecting, it made no sense at all. Why on earth would Subaru think he'd be angry with _him_? He was beginning to realize that it was impossible to predict Subaru's thought processes.

"I made a mess. All that blood. I ruined all your pretty things. Please don't be angry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm…"

"Subaru-kun!" Seishirou, incredulous, interrupted the boy before he could apologize indefinitely, and stared, amused, down into those wide green eyes. "I don't care about the mess."

"I..." Subaru started, but was silenced by the press of Seishirou's finger to his lips.

"Are _you_ okay?"

"Oh, um," Subaru blinked under the weight of a heavy amber gaze, not exactly sure where this was going, "yes." Then a memory filtered through the haze in his brain and he glanced down at himself, semi-surprised to see smooth skin where he was pretty sure… He turned a questioning glance on Seishirou, once again attempting to blink away the strange clarity that plagued his vision, thinking vaguely that there was an awfully bright lamp somewhere nearby. He twisted to see if the source of the illumination was behind him, but there was nothing there. No lamp. Anywhere. So then why could he see the older man just fine? He tried to make sense of it all, frowning cutely before looking back up at Seishirou, tentative, bewildered. "You're not angry with me? This means… I can stay with you?"

He never got an answer. At that point, the vague desire he'd been desperately ignoring, desperately shoving aside to be dealt with later, suddenly flared up, and the world was consumed in a white-hot flash of fierce hunger…

* * *

**Author Note**: And with that… I am about to go where no author has gone before! *evil glint* Okay, not 'no' author, but I swear 90% of vamp stories end with the characters being turned and never show all the trouble that undoubtedly ensues. Soo… let's jump head first into it and see how it goes… Next chapter: Seishirou realizes they're uh, going to have some problems… (Subaru: "I have to _bite _people?!") ^^; This is not going to go well. Poor Seishirou. Meanwhile, Kamui decides to stand up for something (it's going to be painful), and you'll finally get to see what happened 'inside' the house the night the boy's ran away.

Also, there are way too many references to X in this, some of which are important. Anyone who thinks they really know Seishirou and Subaru, there are four objects mentioned in this chapter that are taken from the canon (not necessarily from X!). However, one of them isn't in the right form (it has to do with the design of the boys' beds), and the others… I'm not the best at describing things. So if it's a bit difficult to figure out due to that, I apologize. (But anyone who can get all four, I'll totally give you cookies!) Also, for the first time you're getting hints of Fuuma's Power… ^_^ That's 2 Powers down. Yay!

**Q and A: **Due to the number of questions regarding a certain black-haired, female vampire last chapter, I might as well alleviate all the curiosity now, seeing as how most of the questions asked aren't regarding information that'll come up in the fic. Yes, that was Setsuka. XD Yes, she's still Seishirou's mother, but no, there are no purebloods in my stories—vampires have to be turned. So Setsuka bore Seishirou, was turned herself, and then turned him (several years later). By then, Setsuka had killed the one who turned her. As for Seishirou, there are currently… oh, I think 3 vampires older than him for sure. I'll let you guess who. ^_^ I sincerely doubt you'll meet the oldest one in this story, but you might hear of her at the end. Sooo… all this means of course Fuuma wasn't born a vampire either.

I also had some questions about Fuuma's place of residence and the maids and servants. I didn't mean to give the impression that these people were some sort of drones or blood donors or anything like that. Very much the opposite. Using people close to you as meals would be something of a dead giveaway, so the people who work for Fuuma are probably actually safer than anyone else. And while Fuuma might request tasks of them, the only compulsion they're under is to not speculate on any strange habits they might happen to notice their lord possessing amongst themselves. They stay out of Fuuma's affairs, including Kamui. If you asked them, they'd probably vouch for Fuuma being a good person. *amused*

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** *laugh* Don't tell Fuuma that! He doesn't yet realize just how attached he is. ^_~ Oh yes, there were way too many good reasons for not using compulsion. *giggles* And of course, I just get kicks out of torturing Kamui, so that's always a plus. XD

**Rivendellelve:** Hee, yeah, it is. I'm having lots of fun dragging as much original X canon into this as possible, though some of it—such as in this case—is really more background details the author knows that probably aren't going to come up so much in the fic. For sure, at least, I don't intend to get to the end of the world in this story. ^_^;; Though it will come up a couple more times.

**Secret for Keeps:** *lives in terror of your revenge* :ninja: Three weeks! Three weeks! Just wait three weeks! Especially now that it's been taken to M, it's important to wait as long as possible for everyone to find it! ~_~

**Sute-Hikahika:** Ah! Don't say that! You'll jinx me! O_O *flails* This is the first time I've ever gotten this far, and it might be the first time I get anywhere near an ending. Having never officially ended anything before, there are so many things that could go wrong, and a first time is usually the worst. *ninja* If you tell me I'm doing good, I might suddenly get writer's block, and I'm right in the middle of the important part too! ^_~ As for Kamui… he didn't run away exactly, nor did he get kidnapped. But he 'can' walk now. The only thing keeping him down is the weakness of blood loss. Trust me, Fuuma's more surprised than anyone that he's gone—he thought he had Kamui out good. ^_~ But unfortunately, he neglected to take into account one little thing… (Ah, the bonds of family... XD) Actually, it would have been interesting if it had turned out that Seishirou had finally found Kamui at this point, but unfortunately, after some consideration, I realized that meant Fuuma having to find Seishirou and 'that' fight, and then Subaru would have been left down there dying for hours. XD It was a good idea though. Oh, and yes! E heh. That was Setsuka. *nod* This is another one of those places where I thought I had it all sorted, then my Beta looked at it, asked excitedly if she was dead or alive, and gave me ideas. XD It's hard to say though—some characters might have larger parts than expected, while others might die faster than expected. I can't say for sure whether there will be another mention of her or not. ^_^ Ah, sigh, I 'want' to update earlier, trust me (despite the fact that I'd lose a couple reviews that always seem to come in late), but that'd cut down on the time I get to 'write' it, which would either mean crummier chapters or catching up to me too quickly and then having to wait for months. Oh! You were right! I finally ran into a group of people who are so into their own pairing ideas, they haven't really taken time to understand the characters at all! T_T I also lengthened out some ideas and posted the conversation on JJ's Clamp canon community, if you want to discuss it there. ^^ *tackle-glomps you*

**Naru-Kyou:** ^_^ I think I had several people assume I was going a different direction with that last chapter. My Beta, when she read it, she 'knew' I didn't write yaoi or lemons or anything close, but even she started panicking when Subaru lost his pants. *blushes* Well, I'm not sure this Subaru will ever end up quite as badly off as X's Subaru was, seeing as how Seishirou is still with him, but he is in for some rather rude awakenings, and I suspect he'll be a bit more wary about letting any strange vampires in from now on. ^_~ And heh, I think it's safe to say ice cream outings will be off the menu... for _now_. *grin*

**Laustic:** I have to give credit where credit is due. Admittedly, I think I first heard a reference to Subaru worrying about the mess while bleeding himself in another fic, and it just… stuck with me. I can't forget that scene. Now every time I think of Subaru, I think of him like that… bleeding to death and worrying about the mess. ^^; He's so adorable, you can't help but love him.

**Luuna Moonserf:** Well, this is the 'lesson' I told you about earlier. Now you've gotten to see it. Displeasing Fuuma is a bad idea. ~_~ Anyway, for sure, Subaru's personality isn't his X one (because Seishirou is still with him). This is one of those weird fics that doesn't really quite fit anywhere. It's sort of half TRC AU and half X AU. I could have put it in either, but since the characters are more X than TRC, I put it here. But *laughs* yeah. I know what you mean. Half of me always feels bad for Subaru and half just wants to jump in and save him! It makes me feel good that you think it's plausible though. I was initially afraid I made him TOO much of a martyr! ^_^ Your crazy mom! She sounds like my dad actually. If he thinks we've been on it too long and we stall getting off, he'll literally rip things out of the wall. Or he used to. We finally convinced him that he was damaging his own equipment and that it was not a particularly money-saving method of dealing with the matter. *shakes head* Anyway, those are all good questions, and I'm going to answer them above where everyone can see, since I got a couple people asking similar things. *laughs* I read in class all the time too! Course, I've gotten better at hiding it over the years. And it helps that recently I haven't been reading a lot of 'books,' but printed fic chapters (easy to stash with the teacher's handouts). XD No worries! Go have fun with your computer! Good luck!

**TheLadyPendragon:** Gah, I've got to say it again: Good job figuring out that it was his "twin-senses telling him Subaru is in danger…" I about died when I read that! XD Nailed it in one! Wow, you're good. Anyway, yes, of course Subaru's going to become a vampire! ^_^ I figure most everyone got that one though. Oh, actually, that's a good point, and I think I'll go write some of those answers into my A.N. Might as well clear up any Fuuma's-house questions where everyone will read it. I always love hearing the parts you love most! And I'm glad that one line made you laugh. I have an… odd sense of humor, and often the things that I find funny, everyone else finds dumb. But I couldn't resist sneaking bits of X plot into the background. *innocent* Unfortunately, the plot is going to stall again now, though, for Subaru and Seishirou to get some things worked out. Not to mention, I need Fuuma and Kamui to… eh, _demonstrate_ one last blood rule next chapter. ^_~ It just took me way longer than planned to get Subaru adjusted to life as a vampire. I initially thought I'd have all the way through their first night finished in this 'this' chapter! *laughs at her own naivety*

**French Toasted Pancake:** *blushes and stammers and looks all shades of pleased* Flatterer! Really now, giving a lady such praise! ^///^ It's all going to go to my head! *laughs* Of course, I've simply got to go write more now! XD *groan* But of course, it's the final confrontation/fighting scenes I have left to write, and I hate writing fighting scenes! T_T But you keep flattering me like this, and I'll have to continue! Oh, I'm going to be blushing for a week straight anyway, I just know it. o///o

**Nekoi:** Well, the good news is that I have not yet written another purely Sei/Su chapter. I switched around a scene in chapter 8 so that every chapter would have some Fu and Kam. ^_^ I'll try to make sure they don't get left out again. (I feel sort of sorry for Kamui in this chapter… Ouch) I'm relieved to see I kept you as a reviewer too! I was so worried about switching to an M rating, but it seems to have worked out.

**Leuv:** Thank you! Course, the real excitement will come at the end! ^_~ (I hope… XD)


	7. Night After

Note: Alisa makora and Kalanikamori, as the only two to guess all four objects correctly (and the only two to try), get cookies for their outstanding knowledge of vaguely-written canon objects. XD Should we call this the hall of fame?

**Chapter 7**

Night After

By evening the next night, Kamui had come to a decision. The dizziness and nausea had faded back to a bearable level, leaving him alone with the sharp shards of memories pressing painfully against the inside of his skull. He sat up in bed, broken leg carefully extended before him, waiting for darkness to fall.

Waiting for Fuuma to come.

Of course, facing the man was like having a death wish. Kamui was sure it was going to be a pretty painful meeting. Dealing with Fuuma always was. He winced. But since every memory he had was painful, what was a little more? And now he'd failed (in the most absolute way possible) the only remaining person who meant anything to him, so… didn't he deserve it? Wasn't it a fit punishment? Compared to losing everyone he cared about—his mother and their entire village, then Hokuto and that village, and now Subaru—compared to knowing he was now utterly alone, the physical pain was something of a relief. Fitting that his body should be as broken as his soul, a scattering of raw and bleeding, ragged remnants. Images of the past. He could still remember that night Hokuto died…

_He was never sure what woke him up—maybe some small sound different from the normal night sounds that the mind perceives even when the ears fail to hear, or maybe some natural instinct that came with being a twin. Whatever the case, he opened tired eyes, yawning a little and staring across the room at the other bed where his brother slept under the window… and blinked. And blinked again. No, the figure sitting on the edge of his brother's bed was definitely Seishirou, that man who was forever hanging around. _

_Kamui frowned, watching, half expecting to find that the shadows were simply playing tricks on his eyes, and he would suddenly find that there had never been anyone there. But no. Seishirou leaned down, whispering something Kamui couldn't hear, and gently roused Subaru. From across the room, Kamui watched transfixed as Subaru's eyes fluttered open, looking up into Seishirou's, and then… stilled. Seishirou whispered something and stood up, and Subaru followed, all with a sort of mechanical gracefulness his brother had never possessed. That's what finally jolted Kamui out of his stupor. _

"_What are you doing to my brother!" Kamui's outraged cry rang through the room as he pushed the blankets off and flung himself at Seishirou, grabbing the man's arm in an attempt to pull him away from Subaru. Except it was like hitting a wall—he got the wind knocked out of him but failed to make a scratch in the older man. Seishirou frowned down at him in annoyance and caught him by the wrist, lifting him off the ground with ease. And it was while Kamui was dangling there in Seishirou's grip, futilely attempting to twist free, that Hokuto, having heard his cry, came running in. She came to a halt in the doorway, taking in the scene, and the lamp she'd been carrying dropped from her hand, shattering on the floor. _

"_Sei-chan!" she gasped, eyes widening. "What are you…" Seishirou flung Kamui away, sending him crashing into the wall. With a wordless shout, Hokuto jumped forward to protect the boys, grabbing the little chair at the desk in the corner and bringing it down with all her might on Seishirou. But it was the chair that shattered when Seishirou deftly raised his hand to block the blow. He smiled down at her with a patronizing, now-that-was-a-stupid-thing-to-do expression, and Hokuto was left staring at the shards of the backrest in her hands numbly. _

"_Seishirou-san?" a small, sleepy voice momentarily broke the tension. Everyone turned to look at Subaru, who was blinking quizzically at the scene before him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes cutely. Seishirou started towards him, and Subaru reached out innocently, oblivious to any danger. Kamui struggled to rise, but Hokuto got there first, firmly blocking the boys with her body. _

"_Run!" she commanded, lunging at Seishirou. "Kamui! Get Subaru out of here!" Kamui didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed Subaru and started forcefully pulling his protesting twin from the room, but not in time. _

_Seishirou caught Hokuto easily, pinning her in his arms. Subaru was still twisted around, trying to watch the scene behind them, when Seishirou whispered something that made Hokuto blink in confusion, then pulled her head back with a firm fistful of her hair, burying his fangs in the column of her neck… and she fell… and then they were running, Kamui dragging Subaru through the flames, over the broken glass, down the stairs, finally hitting the door and the sharp ground and the nothingness that waited in the cold night air before them… _

Restless, Kamui scooted to the edge of the bed to watch the city through one large window while he waited, broken leg protesting sharply at the small shift. He'd been stuck in that bedroom for so long now. No, _kept._ He'd been kept, all pretty and preserved, in a twenty-foot square cage. If he'd been able to get out sooner… if he could have found a way, maybe Subaru wouldn't be dead. If only he'd been stronger… He stared at his reflection in the window (the glass part of the glass cage), pale and perfect, and frowned.

"I want out," he whispered to his reflection.

"I think you'll find that difficult," a smooth voice replied, inches behind him, making Kamui jump. He hadn't heard Fuuma come in—unusual, since usually Fuuma made no secret about his entrances. The man tended to be direct. Kamui had been more distracted than he'd realized.

He started to turn around, but before he could fully face the man, hands grasped his shoulders, sliding down his arms, finally tangling fingers with fingers. He could feel the man's chest pressed against his back.

"Fuuma…" Kamui shuddered, and his focus swung briefly from its purpose to the intensity of Fuuma's presence behind him, strong and solid and utterly immovable. With an effort, he reminded himself why he'd been waiting up, determined not to be swayed. "I want to be able to go outside." He had barely said the words than he found himself suddenly flat on the bed, having been pulled down from behind, tangled hands now trapped on either side of his head. Fuuma leaned over him, upside down, golden eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No," Fuuma's voice was rougher this time, less amused, more final. "You'll stay here." One thumb brushed Kamui's palm with the lightest pressure, a whisper above the skin. Then the man looked down at one of their joined hands and tilted his head thoughtfully. Slowly, deliberately, he bent one wrist backwards, further and further, leaning down to whisper in Kamui's ear. "Will you sing for me, Kamui?" Sharp pain splintered down Kamui's arm. He bit his lip to keep from crying out. He would not give that man the satisfaction. Not this time. And he would not let this deter him. He couldn't fight Fuuma—at least not openly, not equally. But that didn't make him helpless either… Summoning up all his willpower, he forced himself not to look away, but to hold those gold eyes. Steady. Unwavering.

"Let me go with you when you go out then."The words were forced out around the pain. He could not back off just because his hand was being crushed. He could not give up. He knew what he wished for. And yet, past experience had taught him that defying Fuuma alone would get him nowhere. Like the steady pounding of the waves against the rock, the man would simply break him apart, piece by piece, until there was no resistance left in him. He couldn't win. But that didn't mean he had to lose… "I'll stay. If you let me go out after I can walk again, I promise I'll stay here."

Fuuma made a sound of annoyance and sat up to stare down at those adamant amethyst eyes. It was not particularly enjoyable to discover the boy had developed a stubborn streak, the will to defy him. Things were much easier when Kamui simply obeyed him. And yet… it wasn't an _unpleasant _idea, showing the boy around the city. It might even be entertaining. Not that he trusted the boy's promise of staying, definitely not. But maybe it would prove an amusing test…

Finally, he released Kamui's hands, letting the boy pull them close and away from further injury. Silently, he stood and walked across the room, only to pull something small and cylindrical from a case on the shelf. Then he turned to meet that bewildered amethyst stare. Striding back to the bed, he held out the dainty vial where Kamui could see.

"Two conditions." At Kamui's still faintly confused nod, he continued. "First, you will never leave my side without permission. And second…" Quick as lightning, he captured the boy's wrist again and dug a nail into the soft skin, feeling the bubble of blood coat his fingers. Kamui tried to jerk back at the sudden stab of pain, but Fuuma was firm, holding that slender wrist immobile as the blood dripped slowly into the vial. When it was full, he released the boy and capped the thin cylinder. "Second, I will always be able to find you." Kamui glowered, but nodded again, rubbing his abused wrist and unconsciously shifting slightly to ease his broken leg—a small shift, but it drew Fuuma's attention. With one swift sweep of a hand, he snagged the hem of the pants and jerked it up, ignoring the boy's startled, stark protest. Viciously violet splotches spotted the smooth calf where the bone had been broken, midnight's shadow on moon-fire skin. Kamui tensed and shuddered at the faint flicker of fingers there, the ghost of a memory brushing mercilessly at his mind. Then the touch receded and his taut muscles relaxed minutely.

Fuuma inspected the bruises thoughtfully. He felt no remorse, except it suddenly seemed like such a nuisance. Humans healed so slowly.

Abruptly decisive, he slit one finger, and reaching out, caught the boy's chin in a firm grip, tilting that face up to his. Deliberately slow, he swept the tip of his scarlet-stained finger over those slightly parted lips, a ghost-like caress, before slipping it into the boy's mouth. Kamui made a somewhat startled sound and started to pull back, stopped by Fuuma's firm grip on his face. Patiently, Fuuma tapped his finger against the roof of the boy's mouth, watching the boy's expression shift between bewilderment and apprehension. Finally, uncertainly, Kamui flicked his tongue over the tip of the man's finger, questioning. He could taste the blood now, not coppery like he'd expected, but rich and sweet and bitter all at the same time.

Fuuma hummed as the boy began a curious, more thorough exploration, the velvet warmth of the boy's tongue lapping at his skin. He'd have to be careful of course. Having taken blood from Kamui the night before meant they were one night shy (dangerously close) to a full exchange. Too much and the boy would tip over the edge into darkness, into his world. But, he mused, enjoying the slow caress of tongue along his fingertip, it would take more than a few drops of blood before he had to worry about _that_.

Eventually, Fuuma freed Kamui, tapping the boy's lips with his finger one last time before abruptly standing up, a liquid shift of shadow.

"Well, come on. Didn't you say you wanted to come with me?" Fuuma glanced down at the boy. Kamui stared back blankly, uncomprehending.

"I can't. I can't walk."

Sighing exasperatedly, Fuuma swept the boy into his arms and carried him out the door, down the long hallway. Finally, once they reached the main entryway, Fuuma stopped and set the boy upright on his feet, watching in amusement as Kamui flailed, grasping at him for purchase, and hopped slightly in an attempt to keep off the broken leg. Grinning, he purposely took a step back, throwing the boy off balance and causing him to trip forward onto the other leg. A sharp intake of breath followed the involuntary flinch… and then nothing. Kamui blinked in surprise, put more weight on the foot experimentally and then glanced up quizzically at Fuuma.

"What…?"

"It's the blood," Fuuma explained, smirking slightly. "Didn't you know? It heals." He tugged one of Kamui's hands free of his shirt and started guiding the boy down the entryway, stopping only briefly as he swung the front door open onto the view of the city and the night air hit them both, a crisp, cold tang that promised winter soon. Beside him, Kamui shivered.

He took a few purposeful steps into that chill, descending gracefully from the landing, before turning to look up at the amethyst-eyed boy behind him. Smiling wickedly, he reached one hand out, extending it in offer. And slowly, wonderingly, Kamui took it…

* * *

Hunger, deep and lethal, shot through Subaru. He gasped, shoving away from Seishirou to wrap thin arms around himself crushingly tight, curling into a little ball as if to contain the fire that licked at his core, burning in his blood. Tighter, as if by clamping down hard enough he might smother it out. But it refused to abate, and no matter how tight his grip, he couldn't crush the strange, raw, desperate _desire_.

"Subaru-kun. Up." Cool hands pressed to his forehead, pulled at his arms, cutting through the fierce flames that were eating him away from the inside. The touch brought blessed sanity. He whimpered. "Get up. Hurry." He let those hands uncurl him, tug him gently but insistently to his feet. Then he was following blindly, bare feet gliding forward over cold stone, whole world narrowed to the man beside him and that slow, mellifluous voice directing him onward. Seishirou... the calm, clear eye at the middle of a swirling vortex of new, overbearing sensations. He focused on the man. Taking in any more than that was a sort of exquisite agony, his unexplainably acute senses registering too much information for his mind to make sense of all at once. The sounds were easy to ignore at least: the light patter of their feet and the faint whistle of wind under a door somewhere. A bit loud, but easy to tune out. It was his vision that was giving him a headache. If everything had just been brighter, it wouldn't have been so bad. He was actually adjusting quite well to being able to see without the aid of a lamp, though he often found himself looking around for the source of illumination before realizing with some confusion that there wasn't one. But the clarity was by far the worst. Everything was too sharp, even objects far away, and he kept trying to blink everything back to normal. And above it all—above the blinding clarity and brightness and the amplified echoes—the claws of hunger tearing at him from the inside out. The raw, grating pain of it was a constant companion. But he could bear it if he muted it all out, focusing on one thing at a time, letting the focus of his attention become the only reality that mattered, the only reality he could bear.

Clothes first.

Under any other circumstance, Subaru would have been mortified to find he was almost naked, but as it was, he simply slid into a clean pair of pants and a shirt, overly focused on the simple tasks of buttons and zippers, stymied only briefly as he tried to get the shirt on and simultaneously keep one hand constantly clutching Seishirou's sleeve. When he was done, the man took his hand, lifting it up, and began tugging something dark and soft over the fingers, pulling each into place with swift, deft touches. A glove. Subaru shot him a curious glance. He was used to wearing gloves, but…

"Your scent." Seishirou started on his other hand. "You mustn't touch anything outside. There are those who hunt us for our blood." He tapped one finger against the tracery of faint blue lines at the boy's wrist for emphasis, before pulling the glove down, simultaneously stroking the fingers of his other hand along the boy's throat.

"Blood?" Subaru queried, uneasily, something knotting uncomfortably inside him, something he was afraid to look at too closely.

"Our blood has unnatural healing properties." Seishirou's words whispered across Subaru's ear, a breath of sound. "There are people who will do anything to get it."

"Our blood…" Subaru repeated distantly, dazedly, before suddenly doubling over in Seishirou's arms with a choked-off gasp. Seishirou tightened his hold just in time, pinning the boy against his chest and keeping him on his feet, holding him up so he didn't fall. Subaru squirmed wordlessly in his arms, wracked by silent suffering, gloved fingers curling convulsively in his shirt, crushing it. Emerald eyes turned miserably up to him, pained and beseeching. Faster. They had to go faster. Seishirou waited for the boy to regain his feet before tugging him down the hall. Subaru followed behind meekly, undoubtedly frightened and overwhelmed, which was just fine. Everything would be easier if he remained docile.

Seishirou stopped momentarily to unlock a series of doors. As the second swung open, brilliant light poured down on them, and Subaru squinted up into it, shading his eyes and blinking rapidly to dispel the spots that dotted his vision. For a second, he thought they'd stepped out into midday sun, but there was something cold and desolate about it, something that splashed the world in shades of bitter gray. It was oddly familiar. Squinting up wonderingly, he realized what it was: the moon. Now it held a crystalline brightness it had never before seemed to possess, reflected light lancing down in stark streams. Then Seishirou tugged him forward and he was stumbling up a set of stairs into that ethereal world of shade and shadow. The moonlight gleamed off his pale skin as he ascended, so that he almost seemed to glow. Like a wraith stirred up by the winter wind.

Finally, one booted foot stepped off the stairs, balancing gracefully on a worn stone block. He blinked curiously at the crumbling ruins that surrounded them, faintly surprised, but was quickly distracted by other things. It was much louder outside, a whispery tumult of shivering leaves and scraping branches and the soft cries of an owl, woeful and wary. And the hushed beating of living things. This last brought a sharp pang crawling up his spine. Hurriedly, before he could dwell on it, he hurried after Seishirou, hopping lightly from stone to stone.

Seishirou halted briefly, long enough to reach back and clasp the boy's hand in his own, twining gloved fingers with gloved fingers. Feeling that connection, solid even without direct contact, he picked up his pace, waiting for Subaru to do the same, and the woods swallowed them as they left the crumbling foundations of their home behind. Faster, almost a run now, and again a slight hesitation as Subaru matched him just a second behind. And faster still. Trees whirled out around them, blurs of green and brown. Feet flitted over the ground swift as smooth stones sent skipping out across a lake. Except no ripples graced the wake of their flight, no signs of passing. Subaru's hand tightened in his at first, focusing only on keeping up, then gradually relaxed, emerald eyes widening in delight and darting around at each new distraction. Something about it all was exhilarating. The boy laughed out loud, a clear sound, sweet and bright.

_Good boy. Clever boy_, Seishirou thought. He caught on so quickly. There was something in the way their feet touched ground in near perfect tandem, something about the boy's light presence at his side that was very… satisfying. Intoxicating.

As they neared the outskirts of a little village, he tightened his grip minutely and caught the laughing boy in his arms, swinging him around to drop momentum, ending with the boy held possessively in his embrace. For a few minutes they stood there, Subaru still breathless with laughter, Seishirou's arms a steadying force. And Seishirou watched that smile with an intensely pleased look, like the cat that caught the canary, shielding it from the rest of the world with his body. The boy's smile was his. His alone. _Ah, Subaru-kun, so lovely, so clever. But I have one last game to teach you tonight… _

They stood just long enough for that smile to fade and gain a quizzical tilt. Then Seishirou smirked down at the flustered boy and disentangled himself, strolling off towards the village's outskirts and leaving the boy blinking cutely and hurrying to catch up.

A few, brave, solitary houses stumbled out of the woods as they approached, ones and twos as first. Seishirou listened thoughtfully as they passed, but didn't stop. Something specific would be needed for the night's little game. And the whole time he was acutely aware of the presence at his side, felt more often than seen in the slight warmth against his skin, the whisper of cloth, the faint sound of footsteps softer than silk, near perfect echoes of his own. Subaru was like the sigh of a shadow. Seishirou found himself continuously wanting to reach out and touch it, reassure himself it was real, even though he knew it was, as though afraid it might slip away if he didn't hold on tight enough.

Finally, as the little houses became slightly more frequent, he stumbled upon what he was looking for. Subaru's expression took on an anxious note as he followed Seishirou out of the trees and into the yard. Seishirou smirked, leaping lightly to the second-story balcony. Down below, the boy contemplated the jump with a slight tilt of his head. A second later Subaru had joined him, making the landing near flawlessly with only a single wobble at the last second. Fast learner indeed.

Seishirou turned to the balcony door, letting it swing open under the weight of a few well-whispered words. But as he wrapped one arm around the boy's waist and guided him through the threshold, Subaru's expression became slightly panicked.

The room was quaint: a toy chest near the window, stick-figure drawings of a family on the walls, a collection of ragdolls lining the dresser, a little velvet frog all lovingly stitched and lying lazily beside one white pillow. And of course, above it all, the sound Seishirou had been following, the sound that was surely the cause of Subaru's fright: the distinct but quiet patter of two little heartbeats.

In Seishirou's arms, Subaru trembled with the force of sudden, raw, all-consuming hunger and came to an abruptly horrifying realization. His eyes widened. He clamped his arms around his own waist again fiercely, nearly tight enough to cut himself in two, and panted with the effort it took to stand there, frozen and stiff, and stay in control.

Up till then, Seishirou had assumed that teaching the boy the basics would be relatively simple. He'd figured that the boy would follow his instincts. Either that or be compelled to it by the hunger. Either way, the boy was going to learn and learn hard. And, at worst, if Subaru was too traumatized afterward, Seishirou would be there to play at comforter, assuring him that it was alright, soothing away the boy's fear. Seishirou rather liked the idea of a blood-stained Subaru turning to him for help. It would only take one night, and the boy would no longer be so clean and pure and white and pretty. One night and the boy would be like him, his forever. Just one night.

It didn't occur to him they were going to have any _real_ trouble until they were standing there, and Subaru looked up at him with those great green eyes and whimpered plaintively, "I have to _bite_ them?!" Not the most reassuring reaction. But even then, he assumed it was only the natural fear of new things.

_Subaru-kun, what did you think we were doing? _

"But…" Subaru rubbed his arms nervously and stared at the ground, clearly uncomfortable with this idea. "Won't that hurt them? And I… I haven't asked for their permission, and…"

"Subaru-kun," Seishirou started exasperatedly. On any other occasion he would have been impressed by the boy's ability to withstand the hunger, but right just then it was rather annoying. He found the whole affair utterly ridiculous. It was only natural to eat. But then, feeling sorry for the food was so like Subaru. Maybe a lesson… Smiling a dangerously indulgent smile, he continued, "Watch."

Seishirou sat down on the edge of the little girl's bed, lightly, not even wrinkling the blankets, and drew the little body lying there into his arms. The girl stirred faintly, but didn't wake, not until Seishirou buried his fangs in her dainty neck… and _then_ she woke up, eyes wide, little mouth opening in a scream that was suffocated by one large hand.

Eyes frozen wide, Subaru clutched his waist with a fierce desperation and slowly backed up, one jerky step after another, until he hit the far wall. Even then, his feet kept going, stepping back and sliding forward, as if they could propel him through the wall. The hunger that had been burning him alive had turned into a sort of sickness, twisting inside him, tighter and tighter. And still his eyes fixed on the scene before him, unable to turn away, unable to block it out. He owed it to her to watch—watch all of it, to the end—because it was his fault. It was his fault this was happening to her. He was the one to blame. And he couldn't even do anything. He couldn't help her, not if it meant getting any closer to the scent of blood—his control was tenuous enough. And he couldn't fight Seishirou, he just couldn't. And he was useless, so utterly useless… And Seishirou was only trying to show him. So he watched: that pale little hand clutching at Seishirou's sleeve, the terrified sheen to wide eyes, the dainty feet twisted in the sheets, slowly suffocating, until bright blue eyes went cold and flat. Then she was laid back down, broken and lifeless, head tilted so that those eyes stared at Subaru from across the room.

Seishirou stood, all fluid grace, and turned toward him, one hand reaching out to him, beckoning. But Subaru could only stare, transfixed, at that hand, the same one that had smothered the little girl. His heart fluttered erratically in its cage, caught between desperately wanting to please Seishirou and not wanting to hurt anyone. He shook his head slowly, as though to deny it all: the girl on the bed, the horrible desire that even now was trying to pull him closer, the whole night…

Seishirou's eyes narrowed, a hairsbreadth's difference, but due to that blinding clarity with which he saw all things now, Subaru caught it. Then the man took a step toward him, and Subaru opened his mouth, he wasn't even sure why—to sob maybe or utter some sort of denial or just to get air into his restricted lungs—but Seishirou was beside him in the next instant, hand pressed over his mouth. Just like with the girl. And something… something finally broke…

One instant, he was standing solidly against the wall, Seishirou's hand firmly stifling a single desperate sob, the next everything went flat, falling away like the shattered pieces of a window. But with this window, when it shattered, there was nothing beyond it…

Seishirou caught the boy as he collapsed, green eyes going blank. Subaru's resilience was surprising, but not unheard of. And taking the boy's personality into account, maybe he had pushed a little too fast. Obviously the boy wasn't ready. Contemplating the problem, he stared down into that porcelain pale face, tranquil in repose. At the very least, nothing could be done with the boy unconscious. So for tonight, he'd recognize a lost cause when he saw it. No point in forcing the boy. When he was hungry enough, he would eat. Even Subaru couldn't hold out forever. Yes, it was just a matter of time. Satisfied with this solution, he gathered the boy into his arms and left.

* * *

Subaru woke up to the soft crush of velvet covering him, pressed caressingly against his cheek, familiar black blankets. Pastel images swirled, awash across his mind: a faint flutter of things forgotten, fading, falling away even as he tried to catch them. A dream? Had all that… been a dream? As if to prove him wrong, brilliant memory opened like sun-struck butterfly wings, lightning-fast flashes of color assaulting him: a house, a stick-figure family, a girl…

He jerked up, blankets pooling at his waist, then, when he realized he was in an empty room, stumbled to his feet, cold stone against bare feet failing to cut through his panic. The room tilted alarmingly, and he felt nauseous and ill and hungry and _alone_…

"Subaru-kun?" Seishirou appeared in the doorway. Emerald eyes flashed at him, wild and unfocused. Subaru took a step forward, stumbled, and was just as suddenly swept up into strong arms. "What are you doing walking around in that condition?" he admonished. Subaru simply clung to the man's shirt, burying his face against that broad chest while he was carried back to the bed. A distant part of him wondered at how Seishirou was ever the only one who could make him feel safe and at ease again, even when Seishirou himself had been the cause of the problem in the first place. When it felt like the world was spinning wildly out of control, Seishirou was the one who could steady it. And because of that, he couldn't hold it against the man, not any of it. Seishirou was who he was. _What _he was. Subaru understood that everyone had to eat. No, Seishirou was only doing what was natural. _He _was the one who was screwed up. He was the one who couldn't handle it. So it was his problem, his fault. And he wanted Seishirou to be happy, he wanted to please the man, but he just… couldn't. Not this. He _couldn't_.

"Seishirou-san, I... I don't want to hurt anyone." Subaru's words were muffled in Seishirou's shirt. "Are you angry?"

"I'm not angry." Seishirou stared down at the head of black hair buried against his chest. "You need to eat, but I'm not angry."

"I can't. Seishirou-san, I just can't… I'm sorry." Finally, those large, green eyes lifted to meet his, begging for understanding. Seishirou sighed and reminded himself that the boy's stubbornness couldn't last forever. Subaru would give in. He wouldn't be able to withstand the agony of abstinence for long. It was only a matter of time.

So he held the boy and let him think it would all be alright… and waited.

* * *

**Author Note:** Not the most original vampire writer, but this 'is' my first real attempt at a vamp fic... *paranoid* How was it? The ending to this poor chapter was originally... not so good. My beta got me to fix it, but though it's been rewritten and reworked I don't know how many times (and finally I just cut it off so that the real problem is now in the next chapter), I still find myself worried about chapters 7 and 8 more than any of the others. I'm worried about whether or not Subaru being able to fight off the hunger (more or less) seems believable, and Seishirou's mentor-like role in the whole thing… Seishirou, who doesn't yet quite realize the extent of Subaru's strength...

But more than anything else, it's Kamui and Fuuma that I feel are tottering on the edge. Fuuma, who doesn't realize what he has, and won't until it's too late… and Kamui, who could be fighting a bit harder to escape and doesn't fully understand why he isn't… I feel particularly bad for what I'm doing to him, letting him get abused like this. *wince* But... somehow I suspect things will be worked out shortly between them. And poor Fuuma... *nasty grin* revenge is coming...

Finally. One of the last bits of information you need to start putting things together. Everything will still be revealed in its own due time, but as of now it's possible to piece together part of the "what" and the "why" if not quite yet the "who"… ^_~ (I feel like I'm playing Clue: It was Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench!) Anyway, I know the flashbacks are annoying, and I'm trying to find alternate ways to explain background info whenever possible... Just, some things are easier to show.

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** *grin* Your advantage is that you get to see everything going wrong before it goes right. And I do feel bad that the reviewers will never fully know just how much you helped fix! I should seriously start making a list of all the things you inadvertently caused me to alter/improve. Oh, and of course you get to sit back knowing more of what happens and watch everyone else figure it out. *amused*

**Alisa Makora:** *laughs* Wow! Practically the first review and you got ALL of them! :D *impressed* I knew there were some genius fans out there, but I was initially afraid the case would give people some trouble. But no! *chuckles* Seriously, good job! I'm actually pretty new to the fandom too. I found it somewhere around the end of January this year. ^_^ But even I had to go look up all those objects again to make sure I was describing them right. *feels strangely outdone by her own reviewers* Anyway, poor Subaru wasn't exactly fully conscious during his… er, transformation, so he has absolutely no idea what's wrong with him. XD But I think he figured it out fast enough…

**Laustic:** I think I'm getting better at writing Subaru and Seishirou as I go, but consequently… I'm afraid I'm losing Kamui and Fuuma… I feel like I'm struggling to hang onto too many characters and always losing one or the other.

**Leuv:** Ack! You just about gave me a heart attack! No seriously. Before posting that chapter, I asked my Beta if Fuuma's actions made him unredeemable. I was worried I'd pushed it a little too far with him… and then I read the first line of your review. Phew. It was a good thing that was a joke! Wah! I feel bad enough about it as it is. XD Anyway, the idea of Seishirou being responsible for Kamui's disappearance was clever, but I couldn't have Sei and Fuuma fighting while Subaru bled to death. I know everyone's waiting for that clash between Fuuma and Sei, and the good news is I 'have' written it! But unfortunately, there's more to the story than that, and I still have a few things that have to be set up, and it's going to take a bit more to get through it… (I think you're about halfway through)

**Kalanikamori:** You changed your name! ^_^ *laughs* Good catch! Yeah, it's the shikifukus I think they're called. I love Seishirou's! I stare at that picture again and again. It's such a shame he never wore it in the manga! T_T I have to admit, if the four boys just sat down and TALKED to each other, they'd quickly sort out all the miscommunications, but of course, it's those very miscommunications that are creating the force behind the first part of my plot… And ice cream may not be completely off the menu yet. ^_~ Let them get things sorted out first obviously.

**Nekoi:** Well, I was going to say something like "never fear! Kamui's injuries will be well taken care of!" but you know that now. ^_^ I couldn't let the kid suffer in bed for another three weeks. I just couldn't. I'm not 'that' heartless! But of course I can't say whether or not Kamui has Power… *grin* or what Subaru's Power is for that matter. *thoughtful* I hope I get a chance to show Subaru's Power, because I'm seriously not sure at this point that it'll come up. *sad*

**Billy11:** YAY! It's good to see you! You should have seen me running in panicked circles trying to find a way to get a message to you, certain you couldn't find the fic! XD All for nothing! *falls over* But really, I'm glad to see you found it just fine! And even more excited to see you now have an actual account, so I won't have that problem again. ^_^ Too bad about the numbers… Did you try replacing the double "ll"s in "Billy" with the "ones" instead? Like "Bi11y"? Just a thought. Mm, I'm not entirely sure Seishirou was 'ready' to turn Subaru, but considering the situation, it had to happen, yes. I knew it would take Subaru awhile to adjust, so I knew it needed to happen soon. *cackles suddenly* Oh, trust me, Fuuma will "get his" so to speak. Revenge is coming… two-fold even. And after reading your review, it was like a light bulb went on (I had been struggling with that very scene, unable to figure out why it wasn't good enough), and I went back and made it a bit bloodier. 8) *smug* Ah, that's one thing I struggle with consistently… making my hints stand out without giving everything away. I will, of course, attempt to clarify when it all comes together, just in case some of the hints were missed. ^_^

**Shinken16:** Wah! It's good to see you again! And I know! Arg! When I saw Subaru as a vampire in TRC, I just could not believe it. I mean, how does he do it? Subaru's so kind and gentle, I just can't imagine him biting people. I initially wrote this fic for three reasons… 1) I couldn't get it off my mind. 2) at the time, there were no good, long vampire stories (excluding crossovers) for X… and 3) I had to take a shot at explaining a vampire Subaru. So now I can only hope my solution to this problem is acceptable. You'll see next chapter. ^_~ *ponders* I don't mind 'subtle'… after all, real life is intricate too, as long as that "one special person" remains constant. I don't want Seishirou totally falling for Kamui or vice versa, but it's funny you should mention that, because I didn't realize just how well everything got set up in this fic until I wrote it. What I thought was going to be a simple, straightforward plotline got rather tangled and flooded with nuances and morals and who knows what else! XD But despite some minor problems with keeping characters in character, I do think it's turning out rather well. :D


	8. Starvation

**Chapter 8**

Starvation

_Thump_. The unique sound of a body collapsing to the floor echoed down the hall outside. Seishirou paused in the middle of soaking a washcloth under the faucet.

"Really now, Subaru-kun," he muttered, the Seishirou in the mirror scowling back. Shaking his head, he turned and headed back down the corridor, already knowing what he'd find. Seishirou had just about given up on it, on the whole thing: trying in vain to keep Subaru from following him around, attempting to coerce him into eating (which was met each time with spectacular failure), dealing with the consequences. The boy could be so stubborn…

Rounding a corner, Seishirou found what he'd known he would.

Subaru lay curled on the cold stone in a taut little ball, arms crossed around his waist and hands clenched so tightly on his elbows the white fingernails were raking bloody gashes into the skin. Seishirou's eyes narrowed at the familiar spectacle, and he was suddenly angry. Angry with Subaru for doing this to himself. Angry with the boy for being so stupidly stubborn. Angry with himself, because he'd been wrong… He'd been so sure Subaru would have to give in. He'd never expected it to go on this long. And the boy showed no signs of giving in anytime soon.

With a yank, Seishirou pried those claw-like hands away before they could do any more damage or permanently mar that pretty skin and pinned them together in one strong hand, jerking them above the boy's head and out of the way. Immediately, that lithe little body jackknifed beneath him violently, almost managing to tear itself free of his hold. Quickly, he pinned one long leg with his knee, holding the boy immobile while that body thrashed and arced and attempted to tear itself apart, the hunger eating away at it from the inside out.

The boy's jaw clenched against the agony that was tearing him apart. Enduring it silently, Seishirou knew. Subaru would never utter even a whimper, not if it meant imposing his pain on anyone else.

Seishirou watched the boy expressionlessly as the hunger took its toll. When at last the fit had ended and the boy lay panting weakly, dazed emerald eyes unfocused, he lifted the limp body into his arms and carried him back to the couch, laying him down gently. Then he went to get the washcloth from earlier and dab away the crystalline sheen of sweat that covered Subaru's fine skin.

Seishirou didn't understand. He'd tried on several occasions to get the boy to come with him outside, but each time his request had been met with frantic apologies and terrified green eyes. He studied the thin little thing on his couch thoughtfully. The change had taken place perfectly. There was nothing wrong with it, Seishirou was certain. But the boy's soul was rejecting it… rejecting it on such a base level, every particle of his being denying what he'd become, what he needed to do now to survive.

Seishirou couldn't help but wonder… how much longer? How much longer could the boy's body hold out...

* * *

Days passed, and Seishirou watched as even the effort of standing left Subaru shaking and pale. Yet, the boy continued to try to follow Seishirou around, obstinately attempting to go after him anytime he left the room. The really annoying thing about it was how the boy would insist on being fine and smile weakly at him, too polite to bother anyone with his troubles. Somehow, Subaru's attempts to belittle his own impending demise were aggravating. Like it didn't matter. Like no one would care. Like everything Seishirou had done to keep him alive meant nothing. Was he really just going to accept his death as inevitable?

No, Seishirou wouldn't stand for it. He wouldn't let the boy throw away everything he'd worked to accomplish, but… he didn't know how to stop it either. He'd thought up all sorts of possible solutions. He'd even considered bringing a human home and locking the two of them in together, hoping that would finally break the boy's willpower. But he didn't like the idea of anyone else with _his _Subaru. The very thought was displeasing enough to dissuade him. And the more he considered it, the more adamant he became to keep Subaru to himself.

But while Seishirou struggled to find a suitable solution, Subaru endured the whole thing wordlessly, ashamed when the man would have to sit beside him and hold him until he could move again. But glad. Sometimes the periods he spent paralyzed were brief, other times horrendously long, and sometimes he'd come back to himself with Seishirou still pinning him down to keep him from thrashing and hurting himself. But even then, even with the raw, ravenous pain eating him away from the inside, he refused to utter a whimper, clamping down on the instinct until his jaw ached and his throat was sore. Subaru hated it, _hated _it, because he was sure he was being a bother for Seishirou. If he just ate something… But the very thought of the little girl made his stomach cramp until he was violently sick.

And in any case, as much as he knew he was bothering Seishirou, he liked being alone even less. With his strength failing, the wide, desolate rooms seemed terrifying things. The times when Seishirou went outside were the worst. When that happened, Subaru would curl up on the man's bed, twisting nervous fingers in the sheets, and breathe in the man's scent.

He was becoming intimately familiar with the contents of Seishirou's room—in particular, the strange, intriguing objects on the dresser. Time had given him the opportunity to memorize their look and feel: the cylindrical one—the one with ancient symbols marked on it and a ring of tiny metal bars connecting the gold framework on either end—made him shudder every time he studied it, as if its every curve and plane was comprised of liquid sorrow. There was a terrible story behind that particular object, Subaru was sure. And the other one, the curious pendant in the form of an open golden circle with protruding points like the rays of a sun—he couldn't help but wonder what value that one held for Seishirou. But it was only an idle thought—an attempt to forget how lonely and empty everything was when the man would have to go out.

Sometimes, when he was alone with only Seishirou's black blankets for comfort, he'd think of Kamui and wonder if he was alright and what had happened to him—a question Subaru figured now he'd never have answered. It had been so long now since he'd seen his brother. The few times he'd questioned Seishirou, the man had replied tersely that he was still searching for Kamui and no, Subaru was not to go outside to try and help. Subaru would never disobey Seishirou, but there were times… times he felt inexplicably worried, that intuitive knowledge that something was wrong, and longed desperately to find his twin—sometimes pacing anxiously, sometimes going stone still and waiting, every sense stretched out to its fullest. It seemed so long since they'd seen each other. He wondered what Kamui would even think if he saw him now…

But there was no way he could look for Kamui now, he knew, not when he'd finally lost even the strength to get up to follow Seishirou, his body unable to sustain itself, slowly shutting down. Long hours were spent sleeping, too weak to stay awake for long. He would tremble whenever Seishirou held him, but he didn't want Seishirou to go away either, wrapping shivering hands in the man's shirt so tightly Seishirou thought he might have to break the boy's fingers to get him off. So Seishirou spent more and more time in the room, holding that frail body, until even the shivering stopped. Until he was forced to come to the realization that Subaru wasn't going to suddenly wake up and come to his senses. The boy was going to starve to death, and there was nothing he could do to stop it…

* * *

Seishirou stood for a moment in the doorway of his room, taking in the scene before him. Subaru lay in a crumpled white heap on the black blankets. He didn't stir when Seishirou came in, nor when the man sat down on the bed beside him. He had always been pale, but now he looked nearly translucent, thin and frail, so easily broken. Slowly, carefully, Seishirou laid strong hands along the boy's cheeks, framing the porcelain face, and slowly forced the boy to look up at him, the better to see those emerald eyes. They stared up at him blankly, sea green splashes against white-washed waves, distant and drifting and edged with subdued flashes of coherency like the swift flicks of lightning from a far-off storm, brief but brilliant. More and more, the bits that made up Subaru (bursts of personality, bits of understanding, beautiful smiles) were fading, flickering in and out like the last sparks of a dying flame.

Stroking one fine-boned cheek, Seishirou noted with distaste the marks starvation had left on that pretty body, the slight discoloration as of bruising between the bones. The boy was too thin and too weak, hollows showing along his ribcage and clavicle and jaw. It was most displeasing to see his property marked in such a way. It was also very disquieting to know that in this the boy had escaped him. He would fail at stopping this. He could do nothing _other_ than fail.

Wrapping one arm around slender shoulders and another under that thin waist, he transferred the boy onto his lap. It was like shifting eiderdown, the remaining physical wisps of a soul that might blow away if touched wrong. Subaru didn't protest, didn't move, but merely lay weightless in his arms. Letting the long, slender legs drape over his knees, Seishirou cradled the boy's head to his shoulder and gently ran the tip of his finger along the curves of the boy's ear.

"Seishirou-san…" It was a sigh, a mere hint of recognition. Seishirou released a breath he hadn't known he was holding.

At least it was a reaction.

One thin arm stirred faintly and reached shaking fingers up in a trembling caress against the side of his neck. Seishirou reached his own hand up to cover the boy's, holding him steady. The cold tip of a nose brushed his jaw, feather-light and fleeting, before a face buried itself under his chin, instinctively seeking warmth. He could just feel the whisper of lashes along his skin. Then the boy's head turned just a fraction of an inch, and Seishirou stilled, surprised, at the soft, questioning flick of a tongue against his throat. A distressed mewl echoed from the boy's constricted throat, weak panting stirring against the column of Seishirou's neck.

"Yes," Seishirou whispered, half giving his consent, half a sigh of relief. He held absolutely still, afraid the wrong move would bring the boy back to himself (whatever had caused this lapse in Subaru's resolve, Seishirou had no intention of impeding it), but wary of anyone being so close. Rose-petal lips hovered over the pulse point for a heart's flutter of time before a soft cry heralded surrender and the cat-like nip of teeth. Seishirou expected the initial sting, but it never came. Subaru's bite, like everything about the boy, was gentle, and Seishirou found it amusing that, even delirious and starved to death, the boy was so concerned about hurting others as to think of them first. And then there was only the feel of the boy's mouth at his throat, faint and weak though the hold was… a frond's wind-blown skim over calm water, pleasure rippling outward from that kiss, a slow and steady riptide pulling him down, sucking him under. He placed a hand at the back of the boy's head, half supporting him, half pushing him closer. Subaru was so thin his shirt hung loosely over his shoulders, more like a shroud than a shirt, making it easy for Seishirou to slip the hand that wasn't caught in fine black hair under it, ghosting fingers up the boy's back. A shiver ran through that pretty body at his touch. Pleased by this reaction, he started a slower, more thorough investigation, methodically exploring each vertebra and circling every exposed bone with a sharp fingernail.

The boy was usually so skittish, it was something of a pleasant surprise to have a Subaru in his arms whose guard was so delightfully down. He took full advantage, finding every spot on the boy's sides that made him squirm faintly, amused by the half-drowned squeaks of protest his attentions got him. As long as he was concentrating on that, he could almost ignore the instincts that were screaming danger in his skull. To drink the blood of another vampire was to gain their strength, a trick Seishirou had used often on others… before killing them. And to allow anyone access to his own throat went against every deeply engraved instinct he possessed. The pleasure that rippled through him only served to increase his wariness as it tried to drag him down into languid complacence. If it hadn't been Subaru…

Only one other person had ever tasted his blood before. Only one person had ever been strong enough to repeatedly take his blood against his will. She had enjoyed feeling him jerk beneath her when she punished him for denying her, but she wasn't going to bother him again. There was nothing of her in Subaru's shy touches, and yet, even after so many years, he couldn't erase the memories of fangs being buried painfully into his throat, his strength being stolen from him again and again. But this was different. He'd had a choice. And he was stronger now. He could detach the boy whenever he wanted. Not that he wanted to. Subaru was like a very warm kitten curled up on his lap. The contentment he radiated was contagious.

Seishirou allowed the ecstasy of the boy's bite to pervade him, wash away the worries and the inhibitions and the cruel claws of ghostly memories, and just enjoy the moment. Really, he mused, he should have thought of this solution sooner. It seemed ridiculous now that he'd ever tried to make the boy share this gift with some random human. His. The boy was his.

And all the while, Subaru clung to him, the hand at the back of his neck the finest grade of steel, seemingly fragile but with a shimmer of underlying strength. Those too-thin arms clung to him so fiercely he was afraid he'd have to snap them to free himself. And then, all too soon, he felt lashes fly wide against his skin as the boy came back to himself and jerked away with a gasp, tearing free of the bite with a suddenness that sent a jarring stab of pain through Seishirou's neck. He didn't get very far though: Seishirou's arms wrapped around behind him like bars, keeping him locked safely within his hold. Seishirou frowned in displeasure.

"Seishirou-san! I'm so sorry!" Subaru's green gaze was wide and horrified. He pressed back as far as he could against the restricting bars of Seishirou's arms as though he was some sort of plague that could be avoided by maintaining a good enough distance.

"You can't possibly have drunk enough." Seishirou ignored the boy's protests and dragged him closer. It helped that the boy's protesting struggles were still pitifully weak. Subaru had been all but starved to death a few minutes ago, and he wasn't going to let the boy get away with that anymore. "Again," he commanded, trapping the boy against his chest.

"No, no, I might hurt you." Subaru shook his head frantically, hands squirming up between them in an attempt to push them apart, arching away firmly from full contact. But he was still weak and Seishirou was strong, crushing them together effortlessly. It was cute the way the boy was worried about him… but pointless.

"Subaru-kun," Seishirou took the boy's face in his hands, forcing those emerald eyes to look at him. "I won't let you hurt me. Trust me." Subaru still looked doubtful, worry etched in the set of his brows and the turn of his lips.

"But… being bitten hurts. I don't want to hurt you."

"Hurts?" Seishirou echoed, frowning. But of course, the only time he'd bitten Subaru, he'd lost control. Of course Subaru wouldn't think it could be any different… He groaned. Was that what had caused the whole mess? "Biting can hurt," he agreed, "but it can also be very pleasant. It depends on you. The weaker you are, the less control you'll have. As long as you eat regularly, you'll never have to worry." With one hand he reached out to smooth the worry lines from Subaru's forehead and draw the boy closer again. "Trust me," he repeated.

"Seishirou-san, I… don't know…" Subaru stared at the man, dismayed. What if Seishirou was wrong? What if it hurt him? But he seemed to want it, and Subaru didn't want to disappoint him, and surely… surely Seishirou knew what he was doing. "But I do trust you." Finally, tentatively, Subaru's fangs nipped at Seishirou's neck, drawing blood. The world seemed to dissolve for a few seconds in a white sheen of bliss before coalescing again.

Subaru wasn't at all sure about the thing. It was just so… awkward, and embarrassing, and surely he was hurting Seishirou… But… it did feel good, very much so. A shimmering sort of pleasure spreading through him, washing away old memories. And from the content rumbling of Seishirou's chest against the palms of his hands and the way the man was gently tugging at the hair along the nape of his neck in an absentminded sort of way, Seishirou felt it too. For a few minutes Subaru let himself enjoy the intoxicating warmth and… safety in the thing. Then Seishirou hummed a bit, and Subaru felt the vibrations of it through the man's throat, against his lips, and it was a very funny feeling. Frowning, he pulled away.

"Seishirou-san!" He pinned the man with a flustered gaze, eyebrows drawn in accusation. "That tickles!" Seishirou blinked at him.

Then broke into chuckles.

"You're laughing at me!" Subaru protested, but his lips twitched against his will, and it only caused Seishirou to laugh harder, and pretty soon Subaru was giggling as well, and it was all very pleasant, and all in all it took some time before either of them could look at each other again with any degree of solemnity.

"Is it really okay?" Subaru finally asked, after he'd managed to more or less stifle the strangely buoyant feeling bubbling inside him.

"It pleases me very much." Seishirou's smile was soft for once, gentle. Then he tilted his head thoughtfully. "Subaru-kun, from now on you must bite only me."

"What?!" Subaru's eyes flew wide again.

"You are forbidden from biting humans or other vampires from now on. Only me. You must bite only me. No one else. Do you understand?" He had decided. Subaru was never going to go to some human for anything he needed ever again. Drinking his blood, with all the power and weight of centuries it contained, would make the boy stronger. But more importantly, Subaru would never have to touch anyone else. No undeserving human would ever get to feel the rapture of Subaru's bite.

"You…" Subaru spluttered, dismayed. "You have the strangest… The strangest…" At a loss for words, he finally stopped and shook his head. "No one else," he agreed, amusement sparkling in his eyes. Really, the man could be picky about the strangest things. But he had been right. It had been… pleasant. Subaru felt himself blush again. Thinking about it was strangely embarrassing. But for the first time in a long time, he felt… sated. And it felt good.

He leaned against Seishirou, warm and content, feeling the man's fingers tugging faintly at his hair, until finally his eyelids closed and it all stopped mattering anyway.

* * *

"Oof!" Kamui lost his balance and landed on the ground. Again. Grumbling, he pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off. Of course, no sooner had he done so than someone else bumped into him, jostling him sideways. The streets were just too crowded. It didn't help that he was rather short and people had a tendency to overlook him. Stumbling, he pushed his way through the throng, squeezing between people when they wouldn't move, to where Fuuma waited. The space around the man was oddly clear, annoying enough. Fuuma seemed to naturally repel crowds. Kamui wasn't sure if it was his height, his imposing nature, the elegant clothes he preferred that clearly marked his rank, or just instincts that naturally shrieked danger when wandering too close. Whatever the case, as long as Kamui stayed nearby, he had no problems. It was just that there were so many interesting things in the city! He hadn't really noticed before—he'd been too busy focusing on finding Subaru—but there were all sorts of strange foods and foreign clothes and ornaments and charms. The number of new things was endless.

A display of expensive powders in vibrant colors caught his eye, and he paused to stare at it quizzically. It was only a few seconds, but he knew it was too long when he was jostled suddenly forward by the crowd again, shoving him up into a wooden support beam. He tried to find his way back toward Fuuma, but the crush of people kept him pinned.

"Kamui!" The voice cracked over the crowd, cold and commanding, sending people scurrying out of the way. No one wanted the voice's owner to turn on them. Finding the way before him suddenly wide open, Kamui blushed in embarrassment and hurried to Fuuma's side, to that small circle of safety that always encompassed the man, free from the throng.

Fuuma had teased him mercilessly about his habit of getting mobbed ever since the first night they'd gone out into the city. Still, it had been enjoyable just to be outside and stretch his legs, even if the first night had come with a visual clarity and heightened perception of sound that had been all but deafening. It had also been disconcerting to realize just how easily Fuuma could jerk him around—heal him or hurt him on a whim—frightening how much power the man had over him. Was that what he'd been aiming at when he'd healed him? To frighten him? To show Kamui how absolute his power was? Kamui could only be glad that this time… Fuuma had chosen to heal…

At least, waking up the morning after to the slowly dawning comprehension that he was no longer confined to bed had been exhilarating. He'd spent that first day afterward using his new-found freedom to its fullest, exploring every staircase and unlocked door in Fuuma's house, practically refusing to sit down. The maids had been exceptionally patient, tracking him down to inform him of meals. But afterward, he'd gone right back to exploring.

At some point he'd gotten a bit turned around in the library and had ended up in front of a display of two ornate, twin swords secured to the wall. That was when Fuuma found him.

It had been wonderfully freeing. And even if it had come with the cost of promising to never leave, truthfully, that hadn't been so hard to promise. It wasn't like there was anywhere else he wanted to go. Here, at least, it was nice to know that he was wanted. That someone would notice if he just disappeared. That there was a place where he could stay. It felt good. Even if it meant a new set of bruises every other day or an occasional broken bone. Well, everything had its price. Gold. Blood. What was the difference? At least Fuuma treated him well… in his own unique way, of course, but Kamui had come to accept that. To expect it. The man seemed to enjoy his pain, to examine it and measure it as if it had a solid, quantifiable existence. And while Kamui couldn't say he enjoyed it, it was a real, tangible thing to hang onto, like an anchor in a storm. And strangely, the danger the man presented seemed… safe. Being with Fuuma was somehow reassuring—the promise that there was at last an end to the constant running and the burning houses and the lost loved ones and the sea of bodies that had always followed them. As long as he was careful, he could stay with Fuuma and perhaps no one else need get hurt.

Then Fuuma's hand caught his and tugged him closer, and Kamui came back to the present with a small jolt.

"If you get lost or trampled to death, I will not be pleased." Fuuma smirked down at him, then, when Kamui gave an adorable scowl, started chuckling. It had only been recently that the boy had become more vocal about his displeasure, had dared to stand up to him. Fuuma found the sudden show of temper somewhat amusing. Kamui had never found the will to fight him before. But he liked it. The boy had spirit after all…

It never occurred to Fuuma that he hadn't had a second's thought of disposing of the boy in weeks. If the thought had come up at all, it had been small and fleeting and easily shoved aside in favor of other things, like the feel of the boy's soft breath stirring against his side as he slept or the image of wide amethyst eyes tilted up at him wonderingly or the sound of a pretty voice moaning his name as he lapped at a pale throat. There was always something more interesting to distract him from thoughts of the boy's fate. Therein lay the problem… there were too many things he liked about the boy, especially when he was in his arms: the way the boy initially struggled against him futilely, the settling of supple limbs in his arms when the boy finally gave in, the small violence of nails in his scalp, the vibrations of a throat against his mouth as the boy cried out.

Taking Kamui's hand in his own, he began guiding them away from the teeming marketplace, towards more deserted side streets. As insatiable as the boy's curiosity was, it was better to distance him from temptation. It was only practical to get lost so many times after all.

Once they were out of sight, the high walls of buildings running parallel on either side of them and the echoes of the boy's shorter steps hurrying to keep up with his long strides sharp in his ears, he slowed down, distracted from his purpose when Kamui tilted his head up to stare at the sky wonderingly as they walked, eyes glittering with reflected starlight.

Or maybe he wanted to be distracted. He certainly didn't want to look too closely at the boy's death. Kamui was too small and… and _temporary_ as it was. Surely there was no need to rush things.

Kamui gasped in surprise as he was pushed suddenly against a wall, Fuuma's arms coming up on either side of him. He was pretty like that, eyes still wide, the rasp of brick catching in his hair. For several minutes, Fuuma stared down at him, breathing in the smell of him. Everything else—the shouting from the streets behind them, the stamp of feet, and the hundreds of other _living _noises—meant nothing compared to the sound of the heart beating resolutely in the boy before him. Fuuma listened to it, knowing how easy it would be to make it stutter to an end. And yet, it would gutter out eventually anyway… How much longer? A hundred beats? A thousand? Why had he ever wanted to kill the boy in the first place? When time was already doing it for him…

He couldn't think of a single reason.

Strangely desperate, he started to lean down, lips whispering over the boy's ear. But then, at the last second, a glint of mischief lit those amethyst eyes.

Kamui ducked under his arm with almost agile ease and danced backward down the alley away from him with a teasing grin. Fuuma blinked for a moment, surprised. Then he grinned back, a predatory show of interest, and slowly stalked after the boy, a lithe ripple of power, all dangerous grace. Kamui tilted his head, considering the man. A gentle breeze stirred silken strands of unruly hair about his face, and he retreated with an impish, sidelong slide of eyes.

His backward glide carried him to the corner of a dark intersection just as a sudden torrent of wind howled down the alley. The laughter flickered out of amethyst eyes, replaced by surprise as he briefly fought to keep his footing.

A sudden shimmer of movement to his left had him whipping around… too slow…

…then an arm wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides, another hand coming up in a powerful grip around his throat.

"Are you the one who's seen Sakurazuka-san and escaped?" The voice whispered from somewhere above his head. Kamui choked. Then, as Fuuma started towards them, the voice barked out a "Don't move!" Fuuma's eyes narrowed before he took another deliberate step forward. In response, the wind picked up, razor-sharp, tearing strips from his shirt. "I said, don't move."

"One of the Families," Fuuma replied, contemptuously, stepping forward again. "You'll have to come up with better tricks to hurt me."

"You know nothing. I'd cut you to ribbons where you stand, but it'd be a shame to waste all that precious blood." The ends of a cloak fluttered out around Kamui, whipping wildly in the wind. The arm wrapped around his waist and the hand at his throat was unnaturally strong, unbreakable. Kamui fought for breath, feet scraping dusty trails in the dirt. It wasn't until the hand released him, only to be raised in a perfect line towards Fuuma, the edges of that cloak falling away, that he could see what had been concealed by a long sleeve: a flash of silver, the tip of something longer hidden by cloth. Kamui sucked in air and his lips thinned into a determined line.

"Don't." Kamui's foot came down on the instep of the concealed figure behind him. "Forget." It loosened the stranglehold on his arms just enough to allow him to tear one free and thrust it back, over his shoulder, crunching the man's nose. "About." And then down again, jabbing his elbow backwards into the solar plexus behind him. "Me." There was a pained hiss from his captor, and the hood of the cloak fell away, revealing a head of brown hair, before Fuuma took advantage of his distraction, springing forward. Kamui felt a whoosh of air brush his face, the whirl of something passing by too close, then there was a thud behind him. He blinked.

"Are you alright?" Fuuma was suddenly beside him, pulling him close, leaving Kamui with the impression the man had materialized from the very air. Fingers brushed his bruised throat, gold eyes narrowing. Kamui nodded, swallowing painfully, letting the light touch of those fingers erase the memory of a crushing hand. But then they were withdrawn and the man stepped past him.

"Such a waste." Kamui turned, finding him kneeling beside the still-warm body, staring at the puddle of blood where the head had been. The cloak had fluttered open, almost covering bloodless limbs, so that Kamui could see it was printed with a large gold symbol he didn't recognize, like an open circle with points like the rays of a sun, pierced through by a crimson, sword-like object. Still kneeling, Fuuma flipped the cloak aside. First, he turned over one limp arm, revealing the small, hidden crossbow there that had been fitted with a small arrow. Fuuma frowned at the liquid glistening along the tip before his attention was caught by something slung along the belt at the waist. Pulling it free, he examined the vial of blood with surprise and distaste before crushing it in his hand.

"What was that?" Kamui asked, coming up beside him.

"Vampire blood." Fuuma shook the droplets from his fingers. "Something's wrong. He doesn't smell right."

"A vampire?" Kamui glanced at him quizzically, but Fuuma shook his head. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know." Fuuma stood, dragging the boy into his arms, eyes flickering along the rest of the alley warily.

"Fuuma!" Kamui protested, squirming in his embrace. "It hurts! Let me go!" But Fuuma only tightened his hold on the boy.

"Hush." He'd run into hunters before, but nothing quite like this, and he didn't trust it. Kamui was only human.

Keeping one arm slung around the boy's waist in a near-crushing grip, he led them back home.

* * *

**Author Note:** And 'that' is about as blatant as my clues get. ^_^ Yes, I know, I taught Kamui how to S.I.N.G. (minus the G), don't hurt me. And man, I don't know how many times I reworked the beginning of this thing. I still don't like it. -_- *gives up* On the bright side, the next chapter is one a lot of people have been looking forward to (and the one I dreaded writing), seeing as how it contains a rather key fight scene (I hate writing fights! T_T). Three more objects from the books (two this chapter, one last chapter). One's pretty nondescript though. Oh, and the girl last chapter was actually a character too, if a nameless one.

Finally, um… something I've been worried about now for several weeks. I lost a good six reviewers on chapter six, multiple people I really enjoyed and looked forward to getting comments from, who had previously seemed pretty faithful. While I know reviewers come and go, it seems an awful cosmic fluke to have lost so many all at once. I've come to two possible conclusions. Either chapter six was the worst chapter I've ever written, or… or I somehow managed to singlehandedly offend half my reviewers in one go. That's a new record, even for me. O_O So, just in case I accidentally 'did' offend anyone… I'm really sorry! I didn't intend to cause offense! And please forgive meeeee!

P.S.: Don't try to link characters together. They're not necessarily on the sides you think they are.

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** Unfortunately, chapter 10 still isn't going to give you all the answers, but you 'do' meet a couple from of the guilty party/parties. (I finally got it all sorted out. There are officially four groups of characters running around in the background in this thing, and let me tell you, it's a PAIN trying to figure out where they all are at any given time, but one of them has nothing to do with it, and another will only be mentioned) You're really close though. I suspect that the next chapter after 10 will start to fill in a lot of the blanks. The good news is… no, I won't be using Tsubasa characters. All the characters are also in X. ^_^

**Shinken16:** I have to admit, the kidney/eye thing always confused me too. The only way my mind ever justified it was to assume she was irrational and swinging rather wildly (widely), and if Seishirou jumped between them, the arc would have hit him sooner, and therefore higher. Though that seems a rather tenuous excuse. ^^; Oh, don't apologize for a long review! *drools* I love my reviewers! I've never had so many wonderful, long reviews! They make me so happy! I read and reread them all the time. I swear, never stop writing such beautiful reviews and I'll never stop writing for X! ^///^ As for Hokuto… *coughs* How do I say? I appreciate her, because she can take care of herself and fight and is a 'strong' female. But aside from that, we would never get along. I've never been certain what the connection between her and Seishirou was. While I feel that Seishirou clearly cared more about Subaru (no question there), he didn't immediately kill Hokuto until she came to him, which seems to indicate to me that he didn't really want to. When I wrote this, I tried to take that into account. However, I thought that some readers might think something was going on with them or disagree with Seishirou caring about anyone else, so I left it ambiguous. What did Seishirou really say to her? "Even if I let you go, you're going to die tonight. For protecting Subaru-kun, I offer you a different death…" She asked him to kill her, because it was either that or let… _them _kill her. Definitely not as pleasant. Sorry.

**Leuv:** *pounces on the idea* Wah! I'm horrible for saying this, but I love the idea of Fuuma purposely Turning Kamui with a broken leg, so the boy will always be with him. I almost want to go write that now. Unfortunately, in this fic, I already set it up so that fatal wounds heal when a person is Turned. Subaru had a hole punched through him and 'that' healed, so Kamui's broken leg would too. *pouts* In this case, while I agree that Fuuma probably wouldn't have healed him normally, there were three driving forces behind it: first, I couldn't keep Kamui confined to bed for another three weeks (the plot needed to move along here), second, I wanted to show that Fuuma could jerk Kamui around however he wanted (this leaves all kinds of wonderful, cruel possibilities), and finally, I needed to show that vampire blood heals. It's important. Heh, well now you've seen my solution to the drinking blood problem. This just sort of seemed to work out so well in my mind: Subaru doesn't have to kill anyone or bite any strange people and Seishirou doesn't have to be jealous. *grins* I actually considered having Seishirou force Subaru to drink human blood—I was so close to writing it (I still want to write it)—but that would have taken a whole new chapter to deal with the repercussions, and I opted out in favor of getting this thing _finished_. Plus… ah, I really shouldn't tell you my second reason. It'll spoil something (not like everyone doesn't see it coming anyway). Suffice it to say, something similar happens later, and I don't want to repeat a scene. ^_~ As for why Subaru isn't actively searching out Kamui… That's partly my fault. I 'should' have mentioned something about it in chapter 4, but got distracted with Seishirou being hurt, and then in the chapter directly afterward Subaru becomes a vampire and is way too caught up in all the new changes to think of anything else. He definitely hasn't forgotten about his brother by any means. Though he doesn't yet really know anything's wrong. Kamui only felt Subaru was in trouble when Subaru died—he didn't feel it earlier when Seishirou hurt him in 4. Likewise, Subaru can't feel every little thing Kamui's going through, but later, when Kamui almost dies… *cackles* you're spot on. It jolts him out of sleep and everything and panics Seishirou. *amused*

**Laustic:** Seishirou thinks he's got things pegged, but Subaru never quite falls into the predictable category. ^_~

**VampireYumi:** Hi Yumi! *waves ecstatically* Don't worry! I'm happy just to get reviewers! *bounces* Hey, good guess! Most people seemed to side with Seishirou in assuming that Subaru would be forced to get over his aversion one way or another, but the author agrees with you… I think Subaru really could hold out. Sometimes I think people find the way Subaru bows to others a weakness, but he actually has incredible strength. Just not in the same way as everyone else.

**Billy11:** Definite trouble! I don't think Seishirou expected Subaru to be able to hold out so long. I'm just glad no one pointed out that Seishirou was also snacking on a kid when Subaru first met him and wondered if he had a kid fetish… One of those unintentional things I didn't even notice until after I'd written it—that Seishirou has never really been shown eating anything 'but' kids! *falls over* Subaru could try drinking animal blood, but knowing Subaru, he'd feel sorry for the rat! XD As for Fuuma… *grins* …give him another chapter to get some sense knocked into him. He's figuring it out.

**Nekoi:** Oh! We're really close! The brothers are going to meet again Soon! (capital S) It took me several chapters to get there, because I first had to deal with Subaru's vampire crisis and then with getting both of the boys out of the house so to speak. Now that Seishirou and Subaru have more or less sorted out their problem and Kamui and Fuuma are running around outside too… Soon. ^_^

**Alisa makora:** *laughs* And by saying that, 'you' just made 'my' day! *preens happily, repeating over and over in an awed voice, "She thinks I rock!"* I watched the X movie once several months ago… Needless to say, I never did it again. ^^; *is still pouting over the fact that two such important characters wiped each other out in 10 minutes* -_- I thought what happened to those two in the books was depressing until I saw that… now I swear, the books are downright peachy in comparison! Anyway, now that's something I thought I'd never hear! "Au" and "canon correct" in the same sentence! ^_~ But it's good to know that there are people who notice how much I've tried to keep things accurate… as much as possible with an AU of course. I think I'm becoming jealous of the authors who get to work with an X Subaru. He has more… personal motivation? I like both versions of course, but it'll be good to get him to fight for something too. As for Fuuma… *contemplates* My impression of him, both in X and Tsubasa, is that he knows what he's doing. Other character might not understand 'him', but he sees people and their motivations clearly, and this includes himself. If there's one thing I think I have wrong, it's that my Fuuma is trying to figure out what he wants and how he feels. And okay, woah, I have got to learn to cut down my review responses! ^_^

**TheLadyPendragon**: *tackles* Oh, I'm so glad to see you again! I thought for sure it had to be 'really' bad to have lost you! You're such a faithful reviewer! ^_^ As for the story… Subaru is very… obedient. Almost to a fault, to the point that it sometimes seems there 'is' no Subaru, but a character made of the expectations others think he should be. This is not entirely true. It's not that he doesn't have his own personality, but rather that he's like the embodiment of trying to please everyone. In that way, I think Seishirou was good for him, because the man made him decide to go after something for himself. Subaru is kind… but kindness is 'not' weakness! *pauses to think how much I'd 'love' the opportunity to show that moral* Everyone writes Subaru a bit differently, and reading other stories, I've come to realize that my Subaru is a bit… personality-less. I really haven't allowed him an opportunity to show his strength. In some ways, Kamui and Subaru have a lot in common. Both of them are incredibly powerful, but neither of them will fight the one they care about (Subaru fights Seishirou, yes, but not with the intention of beating him). Both of them care a lot about other people and both of them shove people away to try and protect them. With so many similarities, I was acutely aware back when I wrote chapter two that the characters were in incredibly similar situations and that I would have to be careful to show how things were 'different'… how each character has different strengths… (though with Subaru, it's not really working, is it? o_-*twitches*) Gee, I talk a lot, don't I? ^^; Anyway, heh heh heh, yes, I finally got Kamui to where he should be! …more forceful, more outspoken. There's one last piece that has to fall together for him, but that won't come till the end. T_T Well, Subaru hasn't actually forgotten… he's just dealing with a bit of a bigger problem right now. And it's partly my fault, in an attempt to keep people from thinking there was a relationship between Subaru and Kamui, I didn't want the two agonizing over each other's loss, and consequently now Subaru seems almost to not care. v_v Ah, my Chara-Beta got a kick out of that too. She made up a little scenario in which Subaru was asking some poor, random human for permission to bite them, politely explaining all the things that could go wrong since he was new at it, and couldn't understand why said human was freaking out. *amuses herself again with the thought* You're lucky if no one saw "your descent into madness!" I swear, every time I beta-read Schnick's work, mom ends up in the room watching me with a worried expression as I inevitably end up crippled over sideways laughing. ^^; *shame*

**fan-fan31:** Thank you! Considering that a couple of my favorite authors write chapters that are 5 to 6 times longer than mine, I often feel that my chapters are 'short'! I feel quite pleased that you enjoy them!


	9. Confrontation

**Note:** There's a quote from a Disney movie in here if you can catch it… (It was too perfect to leave out… XD) No, before anyone asks, I don't own the Disney movie line...

**Chapter 9**

Confrontation

Kamui stretched his arms up above his head, breathing in the night air. It had been a good week since he'd last touched ground in the city. A week of staying inside and watching the leaves fall from the trees and feeling... stuck. A strange, half-frightening feeling, as if the ground was sucking as his feet with every step, waiting for him to hold still long enough to pull him under. But after their last encounter, Fuuma had been wary of letting him out again. It was a pity, because Kamui enjoyed their late night excursions. He didn't like being stuck inside. But then, he mused, he had always been the more active twin. Subaru was the one who could sit still for hours listening to their grandmother's tedious instructions on spells and wards, Subaru who had the patience to redo particularly complex hand patterns until he got it right, Subaru who could focus his mind so acutely. It had quickly become obvious that their grandmother's training was not for Kamui, and their mother had almost seemed to expect that. She had told him one night, after a particularly frustrating session with their grandmother, that not everyone had the same power—his strength was not Subaru's—and that it was okay to be himself, because he would discover his own power in time. They were twins, but he wasn't Subaru.

_Subaru_! He shook his head, as if that could rid him of the cobweb-like strands of memories still clinging to his consciousness—gossamer webs glimmering in the half-light of thoughts and dreams. He was glad that Fuuma had finally agreed to accompany him out again, not only because he thought he might try it on his own soon without the man's permission if he was stuck inside much longer, but because being with Fuuma out in the noise and the hurry of the city was the only thing that kept his thoughts from wandering to his twin. When he was with the man, when they were together… he _forgot _about Subaru.

It was a bit frightening, because they had always been together, ever since they were little. But now… now he would never see Subaru again. And being with Fuuma was the only thing that made it better. Maybe it was because of that that Kamui had sought the man out more often in the past week. Not that he'd admit it. The only time Fuuma had asked with a sly grin if Kamui had been looking for him, Kamui had scowled and replied scathingly that, if the man's home had had a few less floors and staircases, it wouldn't be so easy to get turned around. But Fuuma's smirk had been just a bit too knowing the rest of the night, and after that he had come to Kamui less and less. Kamui swore the man got some perverse sort of amusement watching him wander around looking for him.

Glancing up suddenly as someone bumped into him particularly hard, Kamui realized he was no longer at Fuuma's side. He groaned. Fuuma's sharp admonition before they'd left had been "Don't get lost." The last thing he needed now was to cause trouble that might make the man refuse to let him outside again…

Fuuma, on the other hand, wasn't really having any difficulty keeping track of Kamui. Maybe it was just that it was easier for him to see over the crowd, but he'd kept a watchful eye on the silken head of hair across the street with relative ease. He'd finally accepted that Kamui didn't mean to get separated, but he kept an eye out nevertheless. Deeply ingrained instincts within him still half expected the boy to use one of their accidental separations to run away. In fact, he was surprised the boy hadn't already tried it…

Maybe… Maybe Kamui had really meant what he'd said about staying.

It didn't make any sense. If the boy hadn't wanted to be allowed outside in order to have a chance to escape, what had he wanted outside for? Fuuma was beginning to realize that, with Kamui, he had no idea what would come next: pure obstinance or sudden compromising or indifferent obedience. In fact, there was only one sure thing about the boy. One single, unwavering fact that guaranteed one day, one way or another, Fuuma would lose him: Kamui was human.

And it very well might have happened that night they'd run into the hunter.

Never again. He never wanted Kamui caught between him and a hunter again. The hunter they had run into during their last excursion was a particularly disturbing memory that bubbled to the surface again and again and refused to be tamped down or resubmerged. He'd had run-ins with hunters before occasionally, but not like this. Not one from the Families carrying around vials of vampire blood. Not one quite that… strong. There had been something off about that strength. Fuuma didn't like it. In fact, he was sure it bode ill.

The anxiousness that was creeping along the nape of his neck again wasn't helping. It had been coming and going for awhile now, an uneasy flutter at the edge of his awareness, like someone… watching. The shadow of eyes. Following them. But though there were lots of people who could have been watching them curiously in the crowd—a lord of the city alone with an amethyst-eyed boy—he couldn't brush it aside so easily.

So he attempted to lessen his sense of foreboding by keeping an incredibly close eye on Kamui.

And then, just as Kamui finally caught sight of him and started squirming though the crowd, still a ways away, and Fuuma watched his progress patiently… just then, something else caught his attention—a glimpse of something all too familiar out of the corner of his eye—and he looked up, startled…

…and froze.

* * *

Seishirou walked along the edges of the crowd, pulling Subaru gently along behind him as the boy's gaze flitted from human to human in wide-eyed interest. He tightened his grip on the boy's hand, but it wasn't really necessary: Subaru had always had a well-developed sense of acceptable conduct and self-control, binding him faster than Seishirou's hold ever could. Really, he was such a well-behaved boy. A beautiful, well-behaved boy.

There was something pleasing about having such a beautiful thing by his side… and knowing no one else could see it. They were softer than shadows—the reality hidden so well it was less than the flick of lashes. Insubstantial as a sigh. Wrapped wholly in the anonymity of a maboroshi, they could be anyone: the newlyweds next door, what's-their-names one street over, or any other couple out for a late-night stroll. Seishirou had had, at least, to make sure anyone who might be looking for them wouldn't recognize them—had had to make sure their appearance wouldn't match anyone's memory. All that really mattered was that it be something other than what they were. Something that would cause unwanted attention to recall them incorrectly should he decide to drag Subaru closer and wrap him up. Obviously some… _alteration_ had been necessary, though not too much. Subaru was too perfect to ruin with an excessive illusion. And he had been… _unwilling_ to dim the boy's natural radiance—loath, in fact, to change a single thing about the boy.

Discontent, he reached out and curled his fingers along the nape of the boy's neck—a slow, casual caress that earned him a startled glance and a blush—before settling his hand there in subtle warning.

No, he definitely hadn't wanted to change anything. But… it had been necessary. So in the end he'd made some small concessions. Changed a few minor details. And if leaving Subaru relatively unaltered meant a few more glances cast their way, well, diamonds weren't meant to be covered up or hidden away.

Of course… there really hadn't been any need to inform Subaru of this.

After all, it wasn't like the boy could see the illusion. And besides, it was rather amusing watching him blush and stammer and look beautifully bewildered the few times some passerby would call out "Good evening, miss" before hurrying on. Of course, it was the merchants who noticed them most and who kept proffering perfumes or pieces of jewelry at the boy, often with a smooth "A pretty necklace for a pretty lady." Seishirou smirked in self-satisfaction, enjoying the boy's beautiful blush and bewildered embarrassment, and thought it was almost worth it to watch Subaru flush in confusion… if it hadn't meant dealing with the occasional appreciative glances he was being shot.

_Yes, he's lovely, isn't he?_ He wrapped an arm around the boy's waist. _But you can't have him. He's mine_.

Finally, when Subaru started to shyly correct one last merchant, Seishirou took pity on the boy, pulling an utterly baffled and embarrassed Subaru away and leaning close to whisper seductively in his ear.

"It's an illusion." Seishirou's voice was soft, comforting, but the menacing grin he shot over the boy's shoulder at the poor man beyond was anything but. Satisfied, he watched the vendor quickly seek other, safer customers. "Just an illusion. I altered our appearance so no one would recognize us." Subaru caught on quick.

"They think I'm a girl?!" As if to prove him right, a young man passing by called out a genial "Good evening, young lady!" causing Subaru to turn a mortified shade of red, squeak something incoherent and bury his face in Seishirou's shirt.

"She's just shy," Seishirou explained, chuckling and petting the mop of black hair that was pressed against his chest soothingly, fingering a few imaginary strands that tumbled to the boy's waist. The stranger smiled his understanding and bowed out politely. Maybe allowing the illusion to be as pretty as the real thing hadn't been such a good idea after all, Seishirou mused, watching the man walk away. Then he turned his attention back to the stricken thing in his arms.

Many reassuring words and much fussing later, Subaru finally returned to a more natural shade and stopped ducking his head against Seishirou the few times some passerby offered him a compliment. All the while, Seishirou watched the boy's discomfort with amusement, grinning smugly at anyone who dared venture too close, safe in the knowledge that if any of those moon-struck nitwits knew the truth, they would be horrified. Let them think what they wanted. If they were too blind to see what was right in front of them, they didn't deserve the truth. The fact that he had intentionally woven the illusion to keep them blind had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Absently, he reached out and caressed the boy's cheek. Fools indeed. Reality was far prettier than any illusion.

For a while they walked aimlessly, the din of voices, each pitched above the other, a strangely discordant and overbearingly loud rhythm. From the wince that crossed the boy's face every now and then, he hadn't yet mastered the art of blocking it out. Seishirou had hoped the city would be the perfect place to teach the boy how to focus. The too-quiet hallways of their home were no good for such a lesson.

He started to lean down and whisper into the boy's ear a suggestion when his attention was caught by a dark figure standing tall and silent amid the jarring, jostling mass on the teeming road. Across a desserted alley, gold eyes gleamed back at him with alarming intensity…

Fuuma froze.

Seishirou stilled.

That perfect kind of stillness that meant he had been startled and was not happy about it. For a moment, he experienced the very unpleasant feeling of falling, which ended in a sort of thud as he came to the rather annoying conclusion that there was at least one other person who could see through his illusions. Memories winged back to him from a past he had thought buried, flitting into easier recollection as he registered the golden-eyed man before him.

"Monou-san…" Ridiculous! Seishirou fought a scowl at the revelation. The brat was dead! At least, surely he couldn't have survived… It had been a long time ago, but Seishirou still remembered the annoying girl who had started screaming her brother's name loud enough to be heard for miles. He'd silenced her quickly enough, but not before the brother had woken up. It was rather annoying to suddenly discover he had survived. Even more annoying to discover he was still the same age he had been back then. But who had…? It didn't make sense. He had _seen _Setsuka's hand go through the man's heart that night, and it _wasn't possible _to come back from _that_. And Setsuka had been many things, but inefficient wasn't one of them.

At his side, Subaru's eyes were wide, riveted on Fuuma, and Seishirou could feel a violent tremor running through the hand that was clenched in his sleeve. A white-hot flash of rage snaked through him.

_So this is who dared to defile Subaru-kun… _

"How's your sister?" Seishirou's smile was polite, almost cordial. At his side, Subaru glanced up at him sharply, recognizing the sickly sweet politeness for what it was—what it hid. The boy had known him far too long to be completely fooled. Seishirou reached down and caught one thin wrist, forcing the boy to stay close.

"You'd know best." A mockery of a smile played across Fuuma's lips at the reply.

"Oh?" With a thoughtful tilt of his head, Seishirou allowed mild bewilderment to slip into his expression. "Is she dead then? Seeing as how you managed a miraculous recovery, I couldn't be sure."

"People don't come back from the dead…"

"Not normally, no."

Seishirou and Subaru had already been on the edge of the crowd, but they had stopped at the mouth of an alley, and Fuuma turned away from the multitude to face them, making the confrontation slightly more secluded. Chatter echoed back and forth along the street, the aimless milling of hundreds of people going about their lives. Seishirou's grip on Subaru remained firm, protective. As long as he had to watch out for the boy as well as himself, he was at a disadvantage. Just one little distraction was all he needed. A few seconds…

"Subaru!" And it came, all wide amethyst eyes and fly-away hair, with a startled cry of introduction. Beside him, Subaru's head jerked up, startled by the familiar voice. Fuuma turned at the sound. It was enough.

Seishirou moved.

He swept his hand across Subaru's eyes before the brother could interfere or claim Subaru's attention for his own, letting the boy slump into his arms. It took all of a second. A second to make sure Subaru wouldn't have to witness what was going to happen next. A second to make sure he wouldn't interfere. A second to take him away from Kamui yet again. And another to lay him carefully on the ground.

Fuuma had leapt forward in that second Seishirou turned, but he didn't quite make it before the maboroshi swept over them both, leaving Subaru safe outside and Kamui to be dealt with later. Clearly Fuuma had some Power to see through his maboroshis, to enter and leave them, but he'd have to stay inside if he wanted to face Seishirou. And in so doing, would be just as subject to the illusion as anyone else.

Fuuma felt the tips of his fingers graze Seishirou's arm as the man dodged forward, coming up much closer than Fuuma anticipated—too close to get out of the way in time. He twisted at the last second, just enough to avoid anything fatal, and Seishirou's hand, aimed at his heart, went through his shoulder instead. The man's fingers lanced through muscle and sinew and bone, a brutal strike, before Fuuma turned his momentum into a twist, foot connecting with Seishirou's side, hard enough to break ribs, sending the man skittering away over the ground. Fuuma started after him, but was forced to suddenly jump backward instead as huge rocks jutted up sharply from the flat earth, separating him from Seishirou and effectively blocking him from attack.

Staring at the wall of solid rock that separated him from his enemy, Fuuma considered breaking it, only to be forced back yet again by the ground shifting beneath his feet. He could already feel muscles in his shoulder re-knitting around the hole Seishirou had carved into it.

"You've hurt Subaru-kun. That's not acceptable." The voice came from above him, and Fuuma looked up to see Seishirou walking along the razor edges of a crop of jutting stone nonchalantly, coat billowing in a nonexistent wind.

"You killed my sister," Fuuma retorted. "It just makes us even." And yet, it was strange… he hadn't realized till just then that he hadn't thought about her in weeks. Not since he'd come home to find Kamui gone. Fuuma blinked in surprise. Never before had Kotori's death not weighed on his mind. It felt a bit unpleasant to realize he'd forgotten about her for even a day, let alone a week, like it was somehow disrespectful, or like she'd stopped mattering… And that thought was a bit frightening. Had Kamui done that? How strange…

"Did I?" Seishirou interrupted his musings, politely questioning. "I can't recall. But then… I've killed a lot of people."

Unfortunately, at that point, Seishirou was forced to jump down as Fuuma's foot shattered the stone he'd been standing on into thousands of shards. The fragments exploded outward at the force, cutting bloody gashes into his cheek and arm and side. The familiar liquid stickiness of blood dripped down his skin. Then he brought his hands together into one of a thousand patterns he knew by heart.

"Did you simply slaughter them all for enjoyment then?" Fuuma asked, watching sharply as the thousands of stone shards solidified in mid air, joining into one seemingly-solid mass. There was a shriek—a strange semi-sound like that of a bird crying or rock splintering—and then the mass of sharp shards dove out of the sky, plummeting earthward. No time to fully dodge. Fuuma stumbled backward as it hit him, piercing through the arm he'd raised against it and through his side. Blood splattered over dirt, a red rain on the layer of dry dust that coated the ground. Seishirou's eyes glittered in the darkness.

"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific. Which 'them' are you referring to now?"

"The villages you wipe out when you leave. That's just wasteful, Seishirou." Fuuma reached out to steady himself against a wall of rock, voice firmer than he felt. The rock shards had been part of Seishirou's maboroshi, formed from Power, and this time the wounds wouldn't heal.

"Witnesses must be disposed of, no matter the number." Seishirou shrugged. "But anyone who lets an entire village discover his identity is a fool."

"Playing innocent doesn't suit you," Fuuma retorted. For a second, as he paced sideways along the rock wall at his back, there was a single, beautifully clear path amid the jutting stone that separated them. Forcing torn muscles to comply, Fuuma jerked forward, starting to close that distance, when the rocks on either side ripped apart under the weight of Seishirou's gaze, forcing Fuuma back again with a frustrated hiss. The fragments hung suspended in the air—a mine field of razor-sharp rock—before raining down in a deadly shower of debris. Seeing it coming, Fuuma dodged sideways, but not fast enough. Sharp pain tore through his leg as one of the shards went through the limb and into the rock wall behind, pinning him. It was swiftly followed by another shard through his upper arm and the palm of his other hand. The world went white for a second as his blood stained the rock wall behind him. Then he growled, futilely attempting to jerk himself free. "I was there. I know you were the last one to touch Kotori!"

"Did you actually see her die?" Seishirou's tone was condescending, but he smiled charmingly. "I have to thank you for finding me. It makes it a lot simpler than tracking you down. And you've brought Kamui-kun to me as well! How thoughtful of you!" The words struck something in Fuuma. A sort of sudden and deep desperation. Kotori was dead. _Dead_. Nothing could change that now. Nothing he did would make her any less dead. Nothing would ever make her smile again.

Revenge… wouldn't help her at all.

And then there was Kamui. Alive. Real. Kamui, who he should have killed that day he returned home to find the place abhorrently empty. Kamui, who had promised to stay and kept his word—who had become such a… solid presence in Fuuma's home. Anymore, the idea of not having the boy around seemed… foreign. That same sort of empty, unfulfilled feeling as when he'd left the green-eyed brother dying on a white velvet bed. So maybe he couldn't do anything for Kotori, but Kamui… He knew suddenly that he wasn't going to let the boy go. Not now. Not ever. Now, for the first time in decades, maybe it was time to let the past have its peace and take care of the present. The only thing that mattered.

"You can't have Kamui!" Fuuma stared into empty, amber eyes, ignoring the stone shards pinning him in place and the sticky blood soaking his black shirt, splattering at his feet. Seishirou shook his head.

"The boy has seen me. He knows who I am. I can't have him—either of you—running around where _they_ might be able to get a hold of you." Certainly not with all those incriminating memories in their heads. And yet... Seishirou paused to consider how the man had survived to wander around freely all this time as it was. Dangerous. If _they'd _found him… Seishirou stilled suddenly, the implications of the man's words a sudden alarm. "Your village was wiped out, you said?" How had he survived to remember Seishirou, but not what had happened to his sister? In Seishirou's mind, everything was beginning to make a sick sort of sense. Fuuma obviously didn't have clear memories of his sister's death. He didn't remember. That meant he'd been unconscious during that time or… someone had used compulsion to make him forget. And Fuuma had simply jumped to the most obvious conclusion.

Seishirou frowned. Someone had known… Someone had deliberately pitted them against one another. The whole thing reeked of foul play. But whose? Who had dared toy with him so? He didn't like this new addition to the game. Up till then he'd thought he'd known all of the players and their objectives. This new appearance on the field was most unwelcome. And while it was still unclear to him what this person hoped to gain, one thing he knew for sure: if someone had purposely set Fuuma and him against each other, he had no intention of playing into their hands. And more importantly, Fuuma was his only link to the one responsible.

"We've been tricked." Seishirou dropped his maboroshi, allowing reality to filter back in. But as the street slowly materialized beneath their feet, and the sturdy walls of buildings rose from the dust, and the calls of shop owners again split the air, there were two rather obvious things missing…

Seishirou heard Fuuma's startled exclamation of dawning realization even as his eyes desperately raked the ground where he knew he'd left… But it was no use. Behind him, Fuuma called for Kamui, voice stark against the emptiness, demanding an answer. But no matter how long or hard he called, there would never be a reply.

"Subaru-kun," Seishirou whispered, half to the wind, half to the empty ground where he'd set the boy down only minutes before, knowing, like Fuuma, that it was no use.

"Where are you?"

* * *

**Author Note:** Too many notes to write in 60 seconds… *attempts for a condensed version* First, yes, I know in X Fuuma is stronger than Seishirou, but I thought without the powers of being Kamui it might be a different story. (Speaking of which, I officially love having characters who can mess with memories... it makes everything so wonderfully complicated) Second, the crazy illusion scene… Subaru once gets mistaken for a girl in TB and Seishirou very quickly corrects the mistaken party. My point is, Seishirou's using the illusion as a cover, partly because I personally think he enjoys embarrassing Subaru, NOT because he thinks of Subaru as a girl. Subaru is perfect the way he is. Wanted to make sure that was clear. And finally, I have NO IDEA how Seishirou refers to Kamui. Agh. I couldn't find a reference in the manga, and he's known Kamui longer here than in the canon anyway.

Additional warning coming up: there's a mild torture scene in the next chapter. (It wasn't intended to be torture, but I guess it turned out that way) Also, I had way too much fun with Fuuma and Seishirou in the same scene in ch. 10. Those two amuse me when they're together. XD Finally, some people have already seen my notes on this, but congratulations to Pendragon (caught the reference to the Shinkens), Shinken16 (yes, the character who died was Saiki! I have reasons for using him that I might never get to tell… T_T), and VampireYumi (who caught onto the fact that Seishirou has a pendant in his bedroom with the same shape as on the hunter's cloak). Objects that were too vague and got missed include a crossbow (what finally made me decide on a weapon) and cloak from Tsubasa in ch. 8 and a stuffed frog from X in ch. 7. Nothing in this chapter (except, perhaps, a rather obvious parody of a fight from X). Oh, and there's a... _discrepency _in one of the characters' reasoning. Something that doesn't add up if you think about it... *nasty grin* It's intentional. ^_~

Bad news, I'm back in school, and I can't guarantee any regularly updating anymore, not with a capstone project due this year. Yikes. This story is just getting way too long… T_T (and taking so much time!)

P.S.: It is impossible to get brackets of any kind into the summary box! I've tried typing them in, copy/pasting them in, and using the ascii code! It's not _possible_… -_-

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** Good news and bad news, Schnick. I refuse to post 10 until I get 11 and 12 to you at the _least_. I suspect readers aren't going to like that so much, because I've still got a ways to go on 11. On the other hand… I have a good chunk of 12 done, and whenever I get around to 11, 12 should be finished practically at the same time. Have I ever told you how glad I am to have you as a beta? It really, really helps...

**Shinken16:** Well, I didn't mean to make it seem like Kamui was totally over Subaru. (Sometimes, I swear, I'm just one chapter too late in fixing the problem) But attempting to move on with life more or less, yes. Or at least, before the end of this chapter he was. XD I'm glad someone found my attempted-subtle teasing of Kamui's height amusing. And yay! I'm really glad someone figured out that was Saiki! (I actually thought it was obvious, but NO ONE except you said a thing, so now I'm reevaluating my definition of obvious…) But *nods happily* it was definitely way too much fun to let Fuuma kill him again. :D

**Leuv:** Some people think I've got Subaru pretty well, other people think he should be more assertive. But you're right, I'm using the TB characterization for him, so he's not as… bitter as in X. (One day I 'will' write an X Subaru!) Oh, that's right! I don't know why I forget about the TRC vampirism. Probably because I find the vampirism in TRC… strange. Like, their vampires can go out in the sun and don't seem to need to eat anything for long periods of time. Usually I stick to the canon as much as possible, but I guess when it comes to vampires, I'm quite contrary! ^_^ "If my guess is true it has sth to do with the other pairing." Yep! Not in the same way, but yep. Oh, and forgive me for imposing, um… that line might have a different interpretation. (It's just a pain, because lines in X are so vague sometimes) I think, when Fuuma said he was going to do the same thing as Seishirou, he wasn't referring to erasing a mark, but to the way Seishirou chose to end everything by making Subaru kill him (there's a small flashback picture right before Fuuma's line that shows Seishirou's death again). I think it has something to do with Kamui and Fuuma's Wish, but I don't know. Like I said, it's hard to tell with CLAMP. ^^;

**Nekoi:** *laugh* Oo! That would have been fun to write! Subaru eating Kamui and all. *grins* But nope, not this time. Although, in the original story plan, I 'almost' had Subaru eating Hokuto! ^_^ Unfortunately, the next couple chapters won't have a lot of fluff, because plot gets in the way. But hopefully that'll be a good thing too.

**TheLadyPendragon:** No, it makes sense. I get it. ^_^ Middle-ground is hard to find. Sometimes I worry about being too vague and not clear, and other times… I find I maybe shouldn't have worried. A scene in ch. 10 I thought was mild and normal-level violent, my beta found disturbing. So maybe it depends on who you are. I'll put a torture warning on it anyway (though that certainly wasn't the responsible party's intentions), and I'll have to ask you what you thought (if it's still middle-ground). -_~ (At least no one loses an eye… that I know of) As for Kamui… oh, intervention is coming. Sort of. *cackles* Let's just say Fuuma never saw it coming… ^_~ Somehow I always feel vaguely smug and oddly pleased whenever you quote things you like. XD As for Kamui, I do believe I am rather pleased with him getting to make a difference in the fight, because it's so hard to find ways to show Kamui's strength right now, when he's the only human. Anyway, yes, the pendant and cylinder are from the canon, but they were mentioned earlier. There's actually two more (really vague). But good job on the Shinkens! You were the only one who caught that! (either that, or no one else said anything) But no no! Please don't stop rambling! I shall be very sad if you do! T_T

**Billy11:** Ch. 11 or 12 is looking to be the chapter with all the answers, so hopefully any confusion will be cleared up then. But yes, Sei-chan is definitely a big part of the answer. As for Subaru… well, first off, there are actually two problems going on simultaneously. If Subaru had realized biting people could make them 'happy,' then he might not have had such a problem with it, but that solution would have frustrated Seishirou, who can be obscenely possessive. Second, this may just be a difference of opinion, but Fuuma tells Subaru, after becoming the Sakurazukamori, that he might have filled Sei's position, but he doesn't have to do anything, and Subaru says "then I won't." CLAMP is infamous for being vague, but I took that to mean Subaru didn't intend to kill anyone, not even for Sei. ^_^; I don't know. I can see it both ways. In the end, I could only pick one. (And of course, it doesn't help that Seishirou is notorious for not showing emotion, so my version of Subaru probably doesn't even realize he cares)

**VampireYumi:** YES! Thank you, Yumi! I'm so glad someone put together the symbols! *much relieved* I thought putting them in the same chapter would make it easier to notice, but you're the only one who seems to have gotten it. ^_^ At least, finally, Fuuma fully realizes he doesn't want to lose Kamui now. That realization took forever. Sometimes it takes losing something to recognize its importance. And hopefully their relationship will start to improve now. As for the guy who got killed, well, if you read the author note, now you have the answer. *waves… across continents and oceans even*

**fan-fan31:** The last couple chapters were longer, yes, at 5.5 thousand words apiece, but sadly these next ones are shorter, at 3 to 4 thousand. Don't hurt me! XD Well, I think this officially means the Fu/Kam fans are winning. You're the second one I've gotten since my last count, but no new Sei/Su fans. Though I'm not sure if that's because there 'are' more Fu/Kam fans, or if it's because Sei wasn't in chapter 1 and the Sei/Su fans stopped reading. With fanfiction, who knows. -_~ Personally I think Fu and Kam's relationship is very… difficult. I mean, on the surface, there's a lot of pain and abuse there, but when you look at the motivations, it's deeper than that. I just wish I knew for sure what their Wishes were! Anyway, enough babbling, thanks for the review!

**laustic: ***giggles* I'm glad you liked Sei last chapter! I'm beginning to realize that everyone has a different idea of how characters should act, and at any given time someone is unhappy with some aspect of them. With all the frustration of trying to get two extraordinarily difficult characters right, it feels good to know someone's happy with it. ^_^

**Elodie J:** Ah! Elodie! I saw your review on my other story, but having not gotten to update yet, I haven't gotten to reply! Sorry about updating late (and doubly sorry that it might happen more often from here on out), but I didn't realize anyone was paying so much attention! (If people don't speak up and tell me they're waiting, how am I supposed to know they are? *disarming puppy eyes* I checked the hits on my profile, and practically no one had read my note, so I figured no one cared...) As for Fuuma, arg! I'm still miffed that he knew exactly what Sei and Sub's Wishes were, had the power to make it better, and didn't do a thing! Anyway, though, isn't it fun pulling things from the books and seeing how many people notice? ^_^ There are some very perceptive fans out there. (Though I admit, like you, I often just want the story and keep reading, expecting the author to explain later) Anyway, I think part of the problem is that Subaru's strength is most evident when he's protecting someone, and he hasn't had a chance to do that in this fic yet. Later, I hope. Later. Finally, I'm glad a couple people found that line about the end of the world humorous. I debated again and again about taking it out, afraid that it was dorky. XD


	10. Reunion

**Additional Warning:** Mild Torture. (well, I think it's mild)

**Chapter 10**

Reunion

The darkness dissolved slowly, first into fuzzy throbbing pain, then into light, and a migraine, and gentle hands on his shoulders… a familiar voice calling his name.

"Kamui! Kamui! Are you alright?"

"Headache," he muttered, which was probably equivalent to calling the Pacific Ocean a lake. His back was stiff and sore from lying on something horribly hard and cold that he suspected was a bare floor. A formless memory fluttered at the edge of his consciousness… a memory of pain cracking sharply against the back of his head, the world splitting apart even as he reached for the nothingness in front of him to steady it… falling… He shuddered. Try as he might, he couldn't remember what had happened after that. "But I'm okay."

"Thank goodness." Something soft and pliable wrapped around him, and Kamui forced his eyes to focus past the stabbing brightness. He recognized that voice…

"Subaru?" It took a second to register the face. And suddenly the pain was more like background fuzz, because that fine black hair and those emerald eyes staring down at him worriedly only belonged to one person. "Subaru!" He reached up and pulled his brother into a fierce hug. "I thought you were dead! They said…" And for a second he exulted that Fuuma had obviously been mistaken on that regard. But rather than return the embrace, Subaru pushed at him, squirming uncomfortably in his arms.

"Kamui," he whimpered, pushing insistently at the thin arms wrapped around him. Kamui frowned and drew away, staring at his brother. Subaru had never pushed him away. Never. Subaru was too kind to push anyone away… Kamui was suddenly very aware that something was wrong—that his brother hadn't been quite as miraculously returned to him as he'd thought…

"What is it? That man… Sakurazuka-san … has he hurt you?" Kamui's grip tightened. He leaned forward, so that their faces were only inches apart, really looking at his twin. There was something there… some change. Something more graceful, more perfect. More dangerous. Looking into his twin's eyes was like looking into liquid emerald, and he had only seen eyes like that once before…

"Kamui…" Subaru was inches away, unresisting, voice a horrified whisper. "Please. Kamui, you don't understand. Stay away from me. You… You smell good." Kamui jerked away, back hitting a wall he hadn't realized existed.

"You…" Kamui's eyes were wide, startled. And then they narrowed. "What has he done to you?"

"Don't be mad…" Subaru turned pleading eyes on him. "Seishirou-san didn't have a choice. It's not his fault."

"How is _this_," Kamui gestured harshly at Subaru, "not his fault?!" At Subaru's faint wince, Kamui continued, "That man is a murderer! Or have you forgotten about Hokuto-chan? He killed her! And he probably killed everyone else too!" Staring down at his twin, something inside him was screaming, crying out against how much distance was between them now, how effectively that man had separated them. No! Seishirou had already taken his brother away from him once. Not now! Not again! Not like this!

"I don't think… he killed everyone," Subaru protested with quiet assurance. And it struck Kamui suddenly that Subaru might have been too easy on people, too kind, too quick to forgive, but because of that… he often saw the potential in people others missed. Subaru had always had a way of instinctually understanding other people's hearts. Of course, Kamui didn't feel ready to believe Seishirou _had_ a heart. However, he never got a chance to ask for an explanation. At that moment there was a grating sound and they both looked up.

Suddenly aware of his surroundings, Kamui took in the bare stone walls that hemmed them in on three sides, glistening in streaks where water dripped slowly to the ground. And the fourth wall… a set of solid, metal bars. And the realization came with an inaudible clunk. Trapped.

The grating sound had been made by a door in the metal bars scraping across the stone as it opened. A girl stood in the opening, just on the other side of the door, observing them nonchalantly from behind a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. There was something… appraising about that look, like she was silently calculating their worth in her head, and Kamui didn't like the way that assessing gaze only flickered briefly to him before landing solidly on Subaru.

"This is the one Sakurazuka-san took?" Her voice was as flat as the set of her mouth. "Doesn't look that interesting to me…" Movement behind her caught his attention and Kamui suddenly realized she wasn't the only one in the room—there was a blond man behind her, leaning easily against a table in the middle of the floor.

"They're from a Family, don't forget," the man supplied, smiling. "Maybe they'll prove some amusement for you yet…" But the girl still didn't look impressed.

"Who are you?" Kamui demanded, standing firmly between her and Subaru. He hadn't gotten Subaru back just to lose him again, certainly not to these two, but neither of them seemed to hear him.

"And after all," the man continued, "our two main guests haven't arrived yet."

"_If_ they come," the girl countered. "I don't yet believe these two are worth it. Maybe the green-eyed one…"

"Yes, better start now."

"I won't let you!" Kamui lunged forward before Subaru could stop him, aiming for the girl standing just on the other side of the door, between them and freedom. He knew from painful experience that he wasn't a match for a vampire, but humans… he could hold his own against other humans. It wasn't like he couldn't fight. So he was stunned when the girl deftly caught his wrist, holding him perfectly immobile for a heart's flutter of time, the shock freezing that moment in his mind… eyes widening in startled realization. Too late. There was a sharp crack as the bone in his wrist snapped, and then she flung him backward into the far wall with all the ease of tossing a doll…

"You're so sweet, Satsuki-chan…" The blond man smiled pleasantly.

"Kamui!" Subaru stumbled forward, watching helplessly as Kamui slid to the floor in a boneless heap and didn't move again. But as he raced to check on his twin, he was suddenly caught around the waist and dragged backward. "Kamui! Kamui!" he cried, reaching out desperately even as he was dragged further away. But no amount of reaching could cross that widening gap, and frantic, he closed his eyes and reached for the only other thing that could help. The words of the spell came easily, magical whispers rolling off his tongue, but… he realized there was something wrong almost instantly. There was no answer. The words were just words. Dead things.

Dismay crashed down around him, and Subaru felt inexplicably like a musician who had woken up to find his hands crippled, the notes locked away inside but with no means of release. It wasn't that the spell had failed. No, the music was still there. It just had no means of manifesting itself physically.

_Blocked_, he thought. Somehow it had been blocked.

Then a white cloth was forced over his mouth and nose. And suddenly struggling against the girl's hold was like swimming through molasses, each move slow and sluggish and weak. Gravity dragged at him, and slowly he went limp in her arms, mouth still trying to form Kamui's name but no sound coming out.

As he was dropped onto the table in the room outside their cell, he heard the sharp crack of his skull against the cold metal—heard but didn't feel, couldn't cry out. It was as though his brain was screaming at his body to move, but the signals weren't getting through.

Paralyzed, he realized with perfect clarity. Able to see and hear, but unable to move to save himself. Unable to cry out. Trapped inside his own body like a living prison.

But that couldn't stop him from seeing. Couldn't stop him from hearing. Even when he didn't want to. So he listened—unable to block it out, unable to escape—with all the terror of an audience that had suddenly found all the doors were locked and there was no choice _but _watch the performance. Listened… to the _skree_ of steel against bone—that uniquely grating sound—as the tip of a knife stabbed deep into one wrist and another into the other wrist and into the table underneath, pinning his arms wide. Like the wings of a rare bird frozen in flight and displayed in a museum.

And still other small noises—sounds the unnaturally acute hearing he'd never wanted in the first place picked up easily. The almost inaudible rasp of tongue on skin against his wrist, and the almost-clink of glass, and the crystal liquid noises of blood dripping to the ground. Peripherally, he saw the girl's deft hand grip the handle of the knife that was pinning his wrist and pull it free, saw his wrist lift with it, the muscles having healed with preternatural speed around the cold metal, and then _that _sound… the nauseating tearing sound of steel being ripped from flesh that had fused to it. Subaru saw the bits of meat still clinging to the metallic blade as it was lifted and felt swift coldness steal over him, choking him, a blackness edging away at his vision. And he was glad for it, because it meant he couldn't see…

The noises that came after that seemed muted in comparison, perhaps drowned out by the dizzying roar in his ears. Small worrying noises of human teeth gnawing at the bone—not accompanied by the seductive pull of a vampire's bite, but just the throb of dull teeth stabbing into soft skin again and again.

The sounds of his blood being forcefully drained from his body…

* * *

Seishirou scowled at the figure darting from rooftop to rooftop ahead of him, reminding himself firmly that the only reason he was chasing Fuuma halfway across the city was because the man had the fastest, surest link to the twins: a vial of blood. It was rather annoying to find that the other man had no difficulty procuring a means to find the boys—that Fuuma could track Subaru so easily when he, himself, had no means of doing so. Watching the lithe, loping way that figure propelled itself across streets, he was struck by the realization that this was the same easy grace that had tracked Subaru down. This was how effortless it had been for the man to shatter his spells… and leave Subaru in bloody ribbons. Easy. For a second the night seemed unbearably hot, a sort of cold rage burning against his skin. But he needed Fuuma alive… for now.

Which meant that the muddy red splashes being left on the ground were a problem…

Seishirou noted the heavy blood splatters in the dirt of the road with distaste. It was worrisome, the amount of blood Fuuma was losing, leaving in their wake across the city. If the idiot died, it would be near impossible to find the twins. And worse was leaving such an obvious trail anyone could track. But the man didn't stop to rest or let any sign of fatigue show, even though Seishirou knew the blood loss had to be weakening him, taxing his body. He was _almost_ impressed that the man was still on his feet. But more importantly, in Seishirou's mind, was why drinking the vial of Kamui's blood hadn't healed Fuuma's injuries. He'd thought for sure, seeing as how Subaru obviously had Power and Kamui was from the same family, that Kamui would have Power too. By all means, though, if that had been the case, Fuuma wouldn't still be dripping a fine patter of blood over the ground. Seishirou frowned slightly in contemplation. But really, if Kamui had somehow been unfortunate enough to not inherit his twin's abilities, that was fine with Seishirou. After all, the products of inter-Family marriages were often difficult to predict, and it was for problems like this that Families usually avoided such things. Seishirou didn't care how skillfully their mother had dodged his prodding, she was far too insightful and skilled to come from a common family, and no matter what last name they'd taken, _she _was definitely _not _Sumeragi.

He'd suspected all along of course—the way she'd watched him carefully, always wary, even when openly permitting him access to their home, little things—but the biggest clue had come at the end. When he'd returned late one night, only to find the town drenched in blood, the silence smothering the streets, and had dashed past a thousand empty windows, searching out the one he knew so well… only to find the little house in ruins, a smoldering, charred carcass in the cold night. He'd felt… hot, standing there, staring at the remains, as though he's swallowed the embers and they were burning inside him. The thought that someone had taken the town, the game, the boys from him… that someone had dared rob him! Had dared destroy that which was his! The thoughts burned—a brilliant blue fire smoldering deep and low. But as he'd sifted through the ashes, looking for the inevitable remains, the bits of bone… he'd become more and more intrigued. It smelled wrong: not of burnt flesh and dead things, but that sharp, stinging smell of Power and sacrifice. And it was suddenly strange, in retrospect, that no other houses or buildings had been burned down. The rest of the village had been left whole, the inhabitants killed, but the personal effects untouched, the homes still standing resolute.

_Sacrifice, _he mused. It hadn't taken him long to put the pieces together, to realize that the boys were still alive, that the mother had used her life to protect them.

After that, he'd stayed only long enough to scour for clues. None of the bodies were missing obvious amounts of blood, but that didn't mean anything. The only conclusion he could draw for certain was that Power had been used. The sharp, stinging scent of it clung to the place. And the way _everyone _had been killed… like they couldn't find what they were looking for—_or didn't know what they were looking for—_and decided to solve the problem by wiping out everything. It was much like hitting a nail with a sledgehammer. A brutal, inelegant way of dealing with things, Seishirou decided with distaste. It was familiar though, a devastation he'd seen only once before, but he hadn't cared then about the ones responsible. Now he wished he'd paid more attention.

In the end, the only solid clue took the form of a gold pendant, the clasp on the chain broken, lying twisted in the limp, outstretched fingers of a woman—the only item of worth displaced—as though it had been torn free just before those fingers went slack. Seishirou kept it, vowing to find its owner.

It had taken awhile. It had taken tracking down the twins, finding them safe in a neighboring village, taken in by a green-eyed girl. It had taken explaining away how he'd survived, how glad he was to see them alive and well. It had taken several months. But he had, at last, found the pendant's owner. Or rather, they had found him…

That had been the night Hokuto's village was slaughtered.

He'd been waiting and watching, but there had been more of them than he'd expected, stronger than he'd thought. There had been no way then to win. As much as he'd waited for that moment, anticipating the day he'd meet the ones responsible for almost ruining his game, priority had been to get Subaru out of there first. It _would _have been simple, if the brother hadn't woken up… and then he'd had to stay behind to distract any pursuers before he could go after the boys. It had been a rather frustrating night.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Seishirou scowled at the man in front of him, the toe of one shoe lighting briefly on the tip of a roof, balancing perfectly for a fraction of a second before shoving off again. As if one group of enemies wasn't trouble in itself. As if he needed any more problems. But of _course_ the missing Kamui would be found by yet another man who not only wanted his blood, but who by all rights should have been dead and was miraculously the sole survivor of that first slaughtered village he was beginning to realize he should have paid closer attention to. Somehow it all came back to that.

He really didn't like how the pieces were fitting together. But before he could dwell on any more possible connections, the man in question stilled, dropping suddenly down into an alley. Seishirou peered after him cautiously, examining the dirty, dry alley below, immediately focusing on the blond man lounging easily against the opposite wall. More exactly, focusing on the gold pendant the man was wearing around his neck. Hunter, it said.

Then Fuuma was there, blocking his view.

_Idiot, _Seishirou thought with annoyance, watching from the safety of the roof. _Give away our advantage why don't you? Because the direct approach is going to work so well… _Really, the man had no concept of subtlety. This he had to see.

Down below, Fuuma's hand fisted tightly in the blond man's shirt as he dragged him to his feet. The man did not seem surprised to see the vampire…

"Where's Kamui?" Fuuma demanded. But for all that his stranglehold on the man's shirt had to be choking him, the blond smiled easily. Totally relaxed.

"Who?"

Fuuma shook him hard, rattling the man in his grasp. "Kamui! Black hair. Amethyst eyes. Where is he?!"

"Oh!" The blond's smile never wavered. "Him! Yes, I know where he is!" And then he twisted free of Fuuma's grip. It was a liquid-quick shift that left Fuuma grasping abruptly at empty air. That kind of speed… he hadn't seen in a human before. Even the Families, with their many uncanny abilities, couldn't account for that kind of quickness. It wasn't normal. It wasn't even human. But it _was_ familiar. This man, with his unnatural nimbleness and strength, was a bit too similar to the hunter who'd attacked Kamui earlier.

The blond man whirled, and suddenly Fuuma was staring into the tip of a crossbow.

"Could I convince you to give up?" Guileless blue eyes smiled at him disarmingly. "I'm afraid you'll lose more blood if we fight…"

"Not an option," Fuuma replied, the muscles in his legs tensed to spring at the slightest hint of a threat. For a few seconds there was only the steady drip-drip of his blood running out, staining his shirt and dripping from the soaked hem of his pants leg. But it was the gaping hole in his side that was the biggest problem. He shouldn't have been walking in his condition, and he definitely shouldn't have been chasing a blood trail halfway across the city. He had to wrap this up soon or risk getting involved in a long fight he couldn't afford. He was already feeling lightheaded. The blond man seemed to consider this, eyes taking in the severity of the damage, lingering on that one side, and then, to Fuuma's astonishment, he dropped the crossbow.

"Very well. I'll show you the way."

"You're not going to stop us?" Fuuma's eyes narrowed.

"Well, ultimately you're going the direction I want you to go anyway. Why would I want to stop you?" Somehow Fuuma didn't like the logic in that, and he certainly didn't trust it. Quickly, he checked the man over for other possibly concealed weapons, but finding none, was forced to admit that the offer of guidance _seemed _valid. Still…

"I'll know if you're leading us astray," he warned, still feeling that pull that connected him to Kamui. Except, it was pointing him in a straight line, heedless of walls and corridors and other solid things. As much as he didn't trust the offer of help, trying to find their way alone would take longer… Time he couldn't afford to waste. They both knew it.

The soft impact of feet behind them announced Seishirou's arrival, who had been watching idly from above, observing the end of the tussle with fading disappointment. He'd been looking forward to seeing Fuuma realize what kind of match he had gotten himself into the hard way. It was a pity, really. Watching the brat suffer would have been such an enjoyable pastime too…

But it was for the best. A sort of uncomfortably displaced feeling had settled on him since Subaru's absence—a sense of turning to reach for something well-known… only to find it not there. It bothered him. And the more he tried to brush it away as unimportant, the more he noticed it. The sense of loss was only getting stronger the longer they waited.

Weaving strands of Power together with practiced ease, he pulled reality into the form he wanted, molding it to his will. The illusion settled on them, a fine dusting that altered the world, erasing any trace of their existence.

"Ah, Seishirou, how kind of you to join us."

Seishirou swore he was going to wipe the smirk off that man's face…

But at that second he was distracted by an all-too-familiar scent. He hadn't noticed it up above on the rooftop in the open air, but down in the confined alley it was suddenly twice as strong, hanging stale in the air. He whirled, jerking the blond man out of Fuuma's grasp in one quick movement and slamming him up against the wall.

"You reek of Subaru-kun's blood!" A forceful jerk for emphasis. "What have you done?"

The blond's eyes widened, but he didn't struggle, simply hung carelessly in Seishirou's grip.

"We took your boy's blood. We needed him… more compliant. I swear to you he's alive."

"If he's not…" Seishirou's grip tightened pleasantly. Fuuma chose that moment to interject.

"We might need him later. As a hostage if nothing else." Not that Fuuma really cared if the man died or not—he was sure he could find Kamui eventually either way, but it would be faster with someone to lead the way. And with his blood running out, speed was essential.

Seishirou hung onto the man a few more minutes, mentally adding him to the list of people to kill after he found Subaru and figured out who was really behind it all. It was a very short list. In fact, there was only one other person on it.

Then he let the man go.

"Hurry," he reminded them brusquely. "We should hurry." He pulled open the nearest door, finding it unlocked, but when Fuuma didn't immediately follow, he turned back to find the man watching him, staring at him with a knowing tilt of his head.

"What?" Seishirou asked, quickly becoming annoyed.

"Nothing… it's just… seeing you go through all this trouble for one boy. Turning him to keep him alive and now this worry about finding him in time…" He sounded surprised, startled. As though seeing Seishirou for the first time. "You must really love him."

Seishirou stared—something between a you-_are_-joking stare and an I-refuse-to-respond-to-stupid-comments stare. Love? Sure, the boy was aesthetically pleasing… But love? No. Love was thinking only of the other's happiness. Love was self-sacrificing. And kind. And noble. He didn't love the boy… but he certainly wasn't going to let anyone else have him either. "Subaru-kun possesses knowledge I simply can't let fall into the wrong hands. The longer we wait, the more chance there is that they've found a way to extract that knowledge. After all, he knows who I am and how to find me."

"I know how to find you too," Fuuma pointed out, bemused.

"A fact I plan to remedy in due time," Seishirou shot back, brushing past the man. He refused to look back, because he was pretty sure Fuuma was smirking at him, and if he had to face that smug leer one more time, he was pretty sure he'd do something he'd regret later… like forget that he needed the brat.

For a moment he consoled himself with the thought that after all that blood loss, it wouldn't be long before the man passed out. But more practical matters quickly replaced idle fantasies as they traversed the long corridors, guided by their perfectly complacent captive.

There was something bothering him in all this. Something brushing at the back of his mind. Pieces that weren't fitting together right. As he absently shifted the maboroshi that protected them, adjusting it to the darkness of a new hallway, his mind sifted through pieces of memory and information, trying to figure out what wasn't adding up.

"Monou-san… who turned you?"

"Turned?" Fuuma watched the corridor in front of them warily, barely sparing Seishirou a questioning glance. "I woke up a vampire… after you two left." Seishirou frowned. That explanation told him nothing, because he and Setsuka certainly hadn't done it, and the only other group there that night couldn't have either. The blond man in Fuuma's hold might not have been wholly human, but he certainly couldn't turn anyone into a full vampire either, not without an exchange of blood. And anyway, no one should have been able to turn Fuuma in the first place. He should have been dead. Seishirou remembered it very vividly. Even things like reanimation spells couldn't account for _that_. If only Fuuma had the memory of what happened in those minutes after he and Setsuka left… Seishirou pondered that missing information. Why go through the trouble of erasing it? Were they hiding how they'd seemingly brought back a dead man? Or hiding their identities? Both? Certainly the only other possibility was…

The idea made him go suddenly still, caught unexpectedly in the light of the thought. No. The possibility was… absurd. Preposterous. He shook it off. But a deep cold had settled into the pit of his stomach, and once he'd thought of it, the idea wouldn't quite go away. The idea that maybe… impossible! …just _maybe_ it wasn't Fuuma'smemories that were wrong…

After all, it was a bad sign when reality contradicted one's memories. And aforementioned reality was currently dripping very real blood beside him. Not to mention, he was pretty sure said same aforementioned reality had _attacked_ him earlier… Seishirou scowled. But before he could dwell too much on the problem, the blond man in Fuuma's grip stopped short, pointing to a heavy door.

"There."

Fuuma pushed the man forward roughly, making him open it first and step inside. Seishirou followed cautiously.

The room beyond the door opened wide into a square block, furnished only with a hard stone table in the center, colored a rusty red in places. A red that was drying and flaking off. Seishirou steeled himself against the heavy stench of blood and looked around. A shallow drainage trough around the edges of the room held about an inch of stagnant water. The walls opened into smaller rooms, each one separated from the main room by metal bars. Scanning the few unconscious occupants with distaste, his gaze quickly fell on two prone forms locked away in a corner. A second later he had crossed the room, feeling the cold metal of the bars for spells while Fuuma hung onto their unwilling guest. As he pressed his hand to the cold metal, it hummed—the high hum of a well-woven spell. Locked, magically.

Now that he was closer, he could see bloody marks at either wrist of the slim body crumpled on the other side, familiar green eyes lidded tight. He crushed the locking spell that buzzed against his skin with cold fury and yanked the door open, took a brusque step inside… and froze.

The maboroshi shielding them shimmered like a mirage in the sun and dissolved. Seishirou grasped at it desperately and found himself cut off. There was a sudden, surprised yelp behind him. He spun… too slow—human slow—and barely heard the slight scrape of the arrow before it buried itself in his shoulder. He stumbled back from the impact, hand flying to the shaft to yank it out… and had to struggle to pull it free. Blood coated his hand, slick and wet. The familiar burn of muscles and tissues knitting together again was startlingly absent. His mind raced even as he forced himself forward. Power? No… It couldn't be. There was no Power that could do this. Not that he knew of. And it had happened… happened when he stepped through the bars. A spell then, hidden by the hum of the locking spell.

He glanced up through the open door at the room beyond. Peripherally, he registered the stagnant water at the edges of the room rising up out of the trough and twisting around a struggling Fuuma. That, at least, he recognized.

_Kigai Family_, Seishirou thought absently, before his attention was dragged back to the other occupant in the room, a girl who had stepped out of an unlocked door along the wall opposite—he'd mistaken her as a prisoner. In her right hand, she held a crossbow with easy steadiness. Then the almost soundless whistle of the arrow split the air. It was aimed down, in front of him, meant to force him away from the open door, so he did what she wasn't expecting… he leapt into it. A calculated shot—one he knew he could make—despite the thud of the arrow burying itself in his thigh… Except, he didn't calculate the effects of the spell in the room—the hum of magic he could feel crawling sluggishly through his very veins, pulling him back, slowing him down. And the girl, of course, freed from the effects outside the room, was faster, sped up by imbibed blood that didn't belong to her. The door clanged solidly shut inches before he hit it, locking physically the way it couldn't lock magically after the spell he'd crushed.

"Welcome, Sakurazuka Seishirou," the girl's voice was toneless, dead, "last of the Sakurazuka."

And somehow those words had an oddly final feel…

* * *

**Author Note:** Before I forget… Halothane. It's not actually paralyzing. It's a general anesthetic. Can't feel anything, but you're still awake.

I'm sorry if any of the backstory is confusing. In order, Fuuma is turned the same night Sei and Setsuka turn up in his village, his sister is killed, and the town is destroyed. Decades later, Sei runs into Subaru and sticks around for seven years with Kamui and their mother, until he returns one night to find everything destroyed and the twins gone. He then tracks them down with Hokuto, and several months later they're attacked again. That's where the beginning of the fic starts. Makes sense?

Several new characters introduced, and I have to apologize, because I didn't really make any special attempt to keep them all in character. (I totally admit to only caring about the main four) Oh, the reason why Saiki's on their side is a long story not essential to the plot of this fic, so unfortunately, unless I write a sequel, you'll never find out. (It has something to do with a yumemi of course) So what do you think? Whose memories are messed up? Fuuma's or Sei's? ^_^

Answers are going to start coming a bit quicker now, and there are multiple clues that have been placed throughout previous chapters foreshadowing the appearance of characters or objects in this chapter. They are:

"…_even if sometimes he thought the mother suspected…__"_-Sei, ch. 2

"…safe from those who wished them harm, vampire and vampire hunter alike." –Sei, ch. 2

"…especially when… there was the risk of being found again by _them." _–Sei, ch. 4

"…the curious pendant in the form of an open golden circle with protruding points like the rays of a sun…" –Subaru, ch. 8

**Review Responses:**

**Schnickledooger:** Well, Schnick, only you and I currently know how it all ends. So many people wondering when Kamui will find out what Fuuma did, but I rather like when and how that little fact gets revealed! ^_~ When we get to ch. 12, I ought tell them about our little discussion over the most painful way to remove Subaru's eye! :D Gee, I really treat my boy's differently, huh? I just realized this means I've now broken three of Kamui's bones and gouged three holes in Subaru! :rofl: Thank you for being so prompt with the chapters. Much appreciated.

**Shinken16:** Fuuma stabbing out Subaru's eye should have instigated a fight too. I was waiting for it! But unfortunately, it looks like Sei decided not to get in a fight with his… er, evil overseer? But then, Sei has never fought either of the Kamui's fairly. Maybe if he could have found some advantage over the guy? I'd really like to see a fight with both of them at full strength, instead of Fuuma fighting without any real power like in ch. 9. Mou. Anyway, your guess made me laugh so hard! Now I've got images of a sneaky, evil Aoki slithering around in the background. Yes, he sent his relative, Saiki, to deal with Fuuma and Kamui and now he is out for revenge for his relative's murder! *giggles* I'm sure somebody will hate me for saying, but I really just don't care about Saiki, and so his death didn't really bother me. It's like "Oh, look… a head." Or maybe it's just that in another of my favorite manga, one of the main characters cuts his own head off, so I'm used to dead heads? *contemplates that wording* Well, I don't know what else you'd be but dead if you were only a head… XD

**Laustic:** Do you like Oreos or Peanut Butter Cups, because good job! Good catch! You're the only reviewer who caught the Disney reference! My beta got it right off the bat… (she's a sharp little cookie when she wants to be) but you're the only reviewer. I love Disney movies, especially the older ones. Heh heh. I'm just lousy with cliffhangers lately. ^_~

**TheLadyPendragon:** I have to tell you, I have definitely been enjoying Sei and Fu in scenes together. And I'm glad someone appreciated the banter going on during the fight. XD Sei would have killed Kotori, I'm sure, but he was interrupted, so he got out of it this time. Mm-mm. False memories? Ah, but my Lady! Whose memories are false?! *grin* (like it wasn't complicated enough) Hm, should I relieve your suffering by telling you whether you're right or wrong on the Hinoto/Kanoe guess? *blinks innocently* No, I think I'll let you find out next chapter or so. But I can tell you this: Hinoto is definitely going to come up in this fic. Anyway, I have to tell you… Every time you say how much you like a certain passage, I have to go back and read it again, like it's somehow magically changed because you like it and I have to go see what's so good. XD So I'm glad I seem to have pulled off the illusion scene better than I'd hoped, and Fuuma's personality change is coming off cleanly (well, not personality change exactly, because he's still who he was, his priorities have just changed). And since that's my favorite line in the whole chapter too, I was so happy to see someone else liked it too! So many things have changed, the two brothers aren't as close now as they were, and it's only just now dawning on them. *feels sad* Ah, that's the interaction I forgot in 11! "Bad Leeayre!" Thank you Pendragon! Remind me again! I thought I had caught all the important moments and interactions in 11, but I sort of skipped over Subaru's whole stare-at-Fuuma, stare-at-Kamui, "you uh, know each other?" Yeah, that part. Drat. Ch. 11 isn't as done as I wanted, I see. Oh well, that'll be easy. *sigh*

"Fuuma never saw it coming..." Oh! That part! *cackles happily* I just got to that part actually! At the end of 12… so you've got a bit. But I do hope it'll be worth it. I'm certainly having way too much fun writing it. *giggles madly* It's a totally serious part too, but when I think about the look on Fuuma's face in my head, I just start laughing.

I am sorry this took so long. I had to get three chapters to my beta before I could post it, just so I could check to make sure everything was coming out alright and the ending came together correctly. I should now be able to post 11 and 12 in a more timely fashion.

**VampireYumi:** Apparently a lot of people forgot about poor Saiki. I always remember him because in the English dub he has the voice of Rurouni Kenshin. XD Really weird. Anyway… yeah, getting the characters together was actually a big problem. Because both of the older boys are so protective/domineering. Neither of them would ever have let the younger ones come if they'd known they were going to run into the others. As for Kamui, he's still giving Fuuma the benefit of the doubt right now: "It might have just been a mistake. Fuuma didn't realize…" But Kamui 'will' figure it out, you have my word. Wah! I love Seishirou's illusions! There are so many possibilities there! I feel like I haven't even started to tap them all. *dreamy* But at the same time, I don't feel like anyone can beat Natalie Ban in that department. She really hit his illusions spot on. *is my idol* I definitely enjoy knocking Sei out of his comfort zone. *grin* Anyway, Seishirou said that line out loud. If it's in quote marks, assume everyone hears it. Thoughts of course are italicized. Fuuma may not understand all the reasons behind it, but with the two boys missing, I'm sure he realizes someone has taken advantage of his fight and is willing to put differences aside. *cackles suddenly* Bingo! You got it again! Yep, it's a group comprised of people from different Families (won't tell you their objective yet though—you'll have to wait till next chapter for that). The other correct answer would be the mysterious 'them' Sei keeps mentioning. ^_~ Same thing. Yeah! Good guess! I can tell you now, at least, that yes, it's the Angels. Or most of them. Some are missing. (Little story: initially I was thinking about making it the Seals on some righteous crusade to eliminate all vampires, but I decided I really don't like righteous crusades. Plus, just wanting to kill them doesn't make it near as exciting or gruesome! XD) Ah, Yumi! I love your reviews! Even if I know what you mean when it comes to running out of things to say. I love listening to people guess things and mull over plot points just about as much as I love hearing what lines were loved best. At the end I'd like to ask what everyone's most favorite scene was. ^_^

**fan-fan31:** *laugh* Admittedly, killing me would be counter-productive to getting the rest of the story, huh? Gee, I think I like it when there are good reasons to keep me alive! :D Ah, I'm glad you're not put off by shorter chapters! They're not that much shorter anyway. I hope you enjoy them.

**Nekoi:** Heh heh. I'm horrible about cliffhangers! I love torturing my readers! But hey, I have to give you _some_ reason to want to read more! :D Oh, I've got a surprise for you next chapter! I think you'll uh, know her when you see her… *smirk*

**Leuv:** Don't worry. Almost no one realized it was Saiki, which surprised me, considering I figured being able to control the wind would give it away. (My idea of _obvious_ is different from everyone else's apparently) ^_^,

**Billy11:** Oh! I can answer that! I was worried about that explanation, so it doesn't surprise me to have a question on it. As Seishirou remembers it, he didn't kill Kotori, but obviously someone did. While Sei knew there were hunters there that night, they couldn't have turned Fuuma. Only a full vampire can make another full vampire. If it had just been that Fuuma's sister was dead, that could have been anyone's fault, but the fact that Fuuma was turned implies that there was someone else there that night, another full vampire, who intentionally turned Fuuma, knowing he'd come after Sei. So unfortunately for Sei, the only way to track this person down is through Fuuma's blood and memories, which means keeping Fuuma around and 'alive' until he can get Subaru back and sort the whole thing out. Does it make sense now? Sorry for the confusion.

Well, now that you've gotten ch. 10, you know who at least 2 of 'they' are. The eyes following Fuuma (as you'll find out in 11) was one of 'them.' There's still somebody else out there orchestrating the whole thing though. ^_~

In my opinion, an altruistic person wouldn't let someone forcibly cut out his liver to save a kid either (see TB). I appreciate your honest opinion, and for the record, while I don't think Subaru is totally out of character, I like stronger versions of him too, and I have no idea why he always turns out so… wishy-washy… when I write him. I've been going through these last couple chapters trying to find ways to let him show more of his strength, so I hope he'll be a little better from here on out, actually trying to fight back, even if he doesn't always succeed.

**angel-kamui: **It's a comment from a Kamui! *flails happily* Wow, I'm glad you found my story that addicting! *laughs* Reading it all in a day! But of course, I hope more that the following chapters will meet the same approval! ^_~

**akuma-river:** About the ambition of the mysterious 'they' (or not so mysterious now that you've met a couple of them), you'll find out next chapter. I think, however, that they'll find Subaru's less-than-human state to be rather opportunistic. As for Kamui, he 'will' find out about what Fuuma did… just as soon as I get to a really inopportune time. *grin*

It's true. It could just be that everyone got busy all at once. It was just really strange when 6 different people who had reviewed every previous chapter or at least the previous 3 all suddenly stopped at the same time. It 'could' have been a coincidence. But I'm always worried that I've accidentally offended someone in a review response, and I wanted to make sure that wasn't the case. ^_^


	11. They

**Chapter 11**

_They_

"Well," the girl amended, eyes shifting to the body lying crumpled on the ground behind Seishirou, "maybe not the _last _Sakurazuka. Not anymore. We were quite surprised to see you with the boy though. It's not like you to care about anyone." Seishirou stared back flatly, and she added, "You must really love him." There was a slight flick, a waver in that blank stare as Seishirou schooled a brief scowl back into impassivity. Why did everyone seem to think turning one young boy was any indication of caring? Wouldn't anyone, upon seeing a lovely crystal ornament start to topple from the shelf, reach out to steady it? Didn't children trap snowflakes in their hands just so they could gaze at that fragile, frozen lacework a few minutes longer?

"We've been watching you for years," she continued absently, shrugging. "I'm not convinced it was worth it." Then there was a muffled exclamation, and she turned, attention caught by the struggle going on behind her. Fuuma had been forced back against the wall, fighting the watery restraints that lashed his arms and legs in place. "Having difficulty, Yuuto-san?"

"I'm afraid our guest is rather violent," the blond man called Yuuto smiled pleasantly, brushing the tips of two fingers over a bloody cut along his cheek. It had been rather close.

"It's useless, you know," the girl told Fuuma. "You should stop struggling. You're just going to waste good blood."

"I don't see how that's any of your concern," Fuuma retorted. But the lightheadedness was finally settling in for good, a floating feeling, like the world wasn't entirely substantial, but spinning around him a bit too fast.

"Now, now," Yuuto replied. "There are lots of good people who could use such… miraculous blood."

"Pay for it, you mean." This last came from Seishirou, who had knelt to check on Subaru, who was folded limp across the floor like a broken-winged bird, fallen to the earth. In his hand, he was holding one of the boy's wrists, gently brushing the pad of his thumb across the skin there. His expression might have been perfectly flat, but there was something in that too-perfect stillness that whispered of danger lurking under the surface, a slow burning anger. Fuuma noted that almost tender touch at the boy's wrist and protective posture with a flicker of surprise. The second of the night. And the thought nagged again at the back of his mind that perhaps there was more to the man than he'd thought.

"Well, we do have to make a living somehow," Yuuto replied, and Fuuma turned his attention back to the man in front of him.

"You sell vampire blood?" It wasn't a new concept. Fuuma had heard of it—had known there were humans who would pay anything to get it, because of its miraculous healing properties. But… "You've been tracking us this entire time just for our blood?"

"Sakurazuka-san," the girl suddenly jumped back in, not seeming particularly interested. "Sakurazuka-san is the one we want. You're just an added bonus."

"Satsuki-chan is right." Yuuto walked over to the bound Fuuma now that his struggling had diminished and reached up, beginning to tear pieces of his shredded shirt away to get at the wounds underneath. "We didn't even know about you until several weeks ago when Saiki-san happened to notice your boy wandering through the city. That wasn't a nice thing you did to him…" The hunter's fingers dug into the stab wound at his shoulder and Fuuma hissed, fighting against the darkness that scraped at the edge of his mind as he watched his blood run out into a glass cylinder the man held up. Blinking the fuzziness from his vision, he brought up the memory of that night: Kamui, who would have been all too noticeable, staggering, pale and bloodless, through the streets… And the memory of himself: forgetting to check his speed in his anger, heading straight to the boy. It had been so obvious. Fuuma closed his eyes, partly in annoyance with himself, but mostly because he could feel the claws of unconsciousness scrabbling at his skull, and he couldn't let it take him yet, not when there was something… something just out of reach. He struggled to grasp it through the encroaching darkness, shoving aside tendrils of drowsiness in order to catch it.

"How long… have you been after _Sakurazuka_-san?"

"Quite awhile," Yuuto replied while he worked. "Decades. We nearly caught him several times in different villages over the years, but he always eluded us."

"You… You're the ones who've been killing everyone."

"They were in the way. We're not hunting vampires to save people after all. That's just how we pay the bills."

It might have been blood loss, the darkness of death dragging at him, but somehow those words seemed empty. Or maybe he was empty. Hollowed out by the relentless surge of time. There was no anger left in him at the revelation. No remorse. It simply… didn't matter. Though it was somehow funny in the end to find out he'd been chasing the wrong party all those years. All that time he'd been so certain it was Seishirou…

A chuckle crawled up his throat, breaking bitterly across his tongue.

And suddenly he was tired. Weary. Worn out by the weight of years—all spent searching futilely for the man who had never killed his sister in the first place. Yet, even as he thought that, something inside whispered warmly, _Not pointless. Never pointless._ And there was a sheet lightning flash of amethyst among his memories. But he couldn't fight the lethargy dragging at his limbs anymore.

The stagnant water lashing him to the wall suddenly loosened as he slumped forward.

But as the darkness finally closed around his mind, sucking him down, he felt warm liquid against his lips, running into his mouth, and someone whispering, "Don't worry, we'll make sure to keep you alive for a very long time…"

* * *

Seishirou held Subaru in his lap, eyes closed, one hand idly running circles along the boy's arm calmingly. Ignoring for the time being the amethyst-eyed one slumped along the wall. In the cold quiet of the room, the soft conversation coming from the other side of the bars was a gentle background hum. Murmured questions. Irrelevant whispers.

"What about the human?"

"Leave him. I'm sure they'll need the extra meal later."

Seishirou wasn't listening. On the surface, he was calm—neutrality personified—breathing balanced, deep and even. But under that tranquil exterior lurked the murky roil of danger—liquid, concentrated danger. He bent his will to his task, all his focus centered and seeking… systematically testing the spell that held them. He could feel it lying like a thick fog across his senses, dampening his perceptions. If there was just one little hole, the slightest crack… that was all he needed. He pressed up against it mercilessly, and everywhere it pressed back down, like a ceiling built too low, forcing him to constantly stoop. He could almost feel the ache along the back of his shoulders, in the bend of his spine. Again and again he tried, sweeping every corner and side. But in the end, he was forced to come to the conclusion that it was flawless. He couldn't break it. Not from the inside at least.

His thumb brushed idly over the marks on Subaru's wrist—a small thing, an incongruency on otherwise soft skin—but it caused ripples along the smooth surface of his concentration until, finally, he let them wash away that sharply tuned focus, let it dissolve. He opened his eyes. Staring down at the scarring on that pretty skin, he frowned. Vampires… didn't scar. Not normally. They healed too quickly, too perfectly to leave marks. Certainly, there were only so many things that could cause the kind of damage that produced scars like that. And none of them were pleasant. These people… they had done that to Subaru—done something so atrocious it had caused aberrations in the normally clean regenerative proficiency of their blood.

They had hurt Subaru. Marred him. Caused irreparable damage.

Dawn was closing on them. He could feel it. Somewhere out of sight. Yet, even as the cold fingers of sleep began closing around his mind, the feel of smooth skin raised by scarring burned itself into his memory.

These hunters weren't perfect. They would make a mistake sooner or later. It was only a matter of time. And he was patient. He'd waited years to find them. Waiting a little longer wouldn't hurt. Not when he was so close. Frustratingly close. He could feel that moment—that final conclusion—when the game would end lying ahead. The wildness of the chase abruptly brought to its startling finish… plunging the world into stillness again.

Yes. He would wait and watch, and he would be ready.

Half-lidded amber eyes observed the people beyond the bars with dark pleasure. The man named Yuuto noticed and smiled, the same way a wave might smile while dragging down a swimmer. Carelessly. _You're not going to escape._

And even as the daylight darkened his world, Seishirou returned it. He smiled humorously at them. It was easy, so easy. _Oh yes, I know what's going to happen to you. _He contemplated the inevitably blood-coated course of the future, smiling cordially at them all the while. A perfect smile, filled with the future's bright potential.

_You hurt Subaru. _

_I'm going to kill you. _

_You're going to die. _

* * *

When Subaru finally woke up the night after, he was cold and stiff and sore. He curled up a bit, shivering, but was unable to chase away the frigid ache of the stone.

"How are you feeling?"At the sudden question, he realized that Kamui was already up, sitting stoically beside him, amethyst eyes tired. He uncurled, suddenly self-conscious, and smiled a little.

"I'm fine." And he almost got away with the lie, but the ghost of a knife bit bone through a pale wrist and his smile wavered and died, and he hurried to change the subject. "What about you? Your wrist…"

"It's broken." For a second, Kamui looked as if he wanted to reach out and close that gap between them, but hesitated halfway. Subaru understood that hesitation all too well—the lingering awkwardness of caring familiarity that had turned into something bitter. And every time one of their familiar gestures fell suddenly short, it was like being reminded all over again. How could he not see it every time he looked at his brother? Every time he breathed… Human. All of his senses shouted it. Every little movement drew attention to it. Human. Deliciously human.

Subaru couldn't help but feel guilty for that. It seemed that it was always him causing the problems. After all, he was the one who'd put that distance there, the one who was different now. And he'd been the one to push Kamui away the other night. And he was the one who'd been lying to Kamui for years…

"I dreamed Seishirou-san was here," Subaru used the words to break the moment, trying to lighten the mood. "He was here and he… what?" Kamui had gotten a funny look on his face, half pained, half panic. Subaru looked at him for a second, considering. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Subaru…" Kamui began, but at that point Subaru heard something—a chink sort of sound—and turned to look behind him, out through the bars and the scene he hadn't realized was taking place there.

"No!" Kamui cried out. "Don't look!" And he lunged forward, attempting to stop his twin from seeing… managing only in flattening Subaru to the ground just as emerald eyes flew wide and he started to his feet. Under normal circumstances it would have been an incredibly stupid thing to do, throwing himself at a starved vampire, even if that vampire was his brother. But he was desperate, and luckily Subaru was far too distracted to notice.

"Seishirou-san!" Subaru cried, struggling wildly to free himself. "Kamui, let me go! Seishirou-san!"

"You can't help him! You can't!" Kamui managed to hold his brother for a minute or so, but inevitably, as Subaru squirmed around trying to get out from under him, a flailing arm knocked into his broken wrist. Hissing, he jerked back. It was just enough. Subaru used that distraction to get to his feet and across the room. And cursing, Kamui started after him.

"Stop it! Stop it! Don't hurt him!" Subaru reached through the bars, trying to bridge that gap between him and the other man. But Seishirou didn't turn to look at him, didn't make any indication that he'd heard, didn't, in fact, move at all. At his outburst, the one called Satsuki eyed him disinterestedly before turning back to Seishirou, jerking one knife free with a vicious yank. Swift sickness swept over him, knocking him off his feet so that he had to cling to the bars for stability. And the world was trembling.

"Subaru!"

No, he realized suddenly. It was him. Someone was shaking _him_ with a one-handed grip on his shoulder.

"Seishirou-san," he whispered as Kamui jerked him free of the cold metal, spun him around, and wrapped protective arms around him.

"You can't do anything for him, Subaru," Kamui replied fiercely. "There's nothing you can do." And he silently cursed the man for making his brother go through this. Personally, Kamui could have cared less about Seishirou, but Subaru was obviously attached to the man. He hated it—hated how effectively that man had taken his brother from him, how completely he had stolen his brother's heart. But as much as he hated the man, he knew it would upset Subaru to see him hurt. There were some things his brother just didn't need to see.

So he held him tight and blocked out the sounds with his body and hoped it would all end soon…

* * *

Fuuma noticed first the taste that still clung to his tongue, coating his throat. Someone else's blood in his mouth. Then he noticed how the lacerations from the fight with Seishirou had sealed over, leaving him whole and unharmed and very much alive, and the blood suddenly tasted rancid.

For a second he had the overpowering desire to spit it out, but forcefully swallowed instead. Though the physical wounds had closed, the lost and stolen blood had not been fully replaced, leaving an acute ache in its place. Hunger.

A sudden nervous shifting noise behind him startled him. He hadn't heard the soft beating that always accompanied living things, hadn't caught any scent. Even reaching out with his senses, there wasn't anything there. But that nervous little noise came again, and the instinct to chase, to catch, to kill this one that was too close to him flashed like sheet lightning along his nerve endings. All that coiled alertness lashed out at once, stillness blurring into sudden motion, a swift strike.

It was a human. Curled up along the far wall of the little cell, as far from him as possible. Fuuma noted the blue eyes opening wide in surprise, seeing him coming. Then it was too late.

As he drank, the hunger eased away into nothing.

Disconcerting though, even so close, he couldn't really feel a heartbeat. All those little noises he was accustomed to had been muted. Nearly inaudible. And not just sounds. His vision was dimmer, less bright, his entire perception of the world a washed out pastel compared to the usual clarity.

Finished, he let the limp body slump sideways to the floor.

The room beyond the bars was empty except for the blond hunter, who was sitting peaceably by the door. Listening, he could just make out two voices lowered in quiet conversation, one of which was rather familiar.

"Kamui?" he called experimentally, ignoring the hunter's presence.

"Fuuma?" The reply was immediate, followed by a scuffle of feet as someone along the adjacent wall got up and came to the bars, into his line of sight. "Is that you?"

"Yeah. Who's with you?"

"Subaru. Sakurazuka-san's here too, one over."

If Seishirou really was there, however, he made no comment.

Fuuma considered their arrangement for a moment, vaguely annoyed by how quiet voices sounded now. "It's harder to hear in here," he said at last.

"It's a spell." Another voice. Not Kamui's. Fuuma realized it was the brother as he stepped into view and was surprised. "It's suppressing our power." The boy watched him for a moment, then those green eyes shifted nervously away, resting on Kamui instead. "You two know each other?"

"Fuuma found me the night after Sakurazuka-san took you away," Kamui replied, nodding. Subaru stared at him sadly, and the weight of unspoken words hung heavily in the air. Fuuma watched, wondering if he'd say anything. But of course, this was the boy who'd lain there and not made a sound…

"Ah," Subaru replied at last, and Fuuma could only wonder why he'd kept quiet.

"Any ideas on how to get out of here?" Kamui asked, distracting him.

"Not with the spell suppressing my powers," Fuuma replied.

"Well," Yuuto suddenly interrupted from across the room, "it would be a bit of a problem for us if you were able to break out. If you want, I think you'll find you're still quite free to turn anyone you see fit." His smile said that would work out just fine for them.

"Why are you after Seishirou-san?" Subaru's quiet voice asked, and though they were directed elsewhere now, Fuuma could imagine those sad emerald eyes turned on the hunter beseechingly.

"Seishirou's one of the old ones," Fuuma explained. "Blood like his… would be a very powerful thing."

"Yes," Yuuto said. "Quite a catch. Though this time… we were hoping for something a little more. There's a… rumor… that a Sakurazuka will rise who will have the power to save your kind."

"You've spent a lot of time hunting down a mere rumor."

Yuuto shrugged. "If it's not true, we've still got a powerful Sakurazuka. But if it is… and the only remaining Sakurazuka is in our hands…" He smiled, a promising little smile.

Fuuma sighed. At least it didn't have anything to do with him or Kamui…

* * *

The next two days fell into a sort of horrible routine, with either Seishirou or Fuuma waking up paralyzed and Kamui stuck watching.

As time slipped slowly away, Kamui came to love and hate the sunlit hours that stretched out before him emptily. Hate, because during those hours he was the only one awake, without anyone to keep him company. Subaru would lie curled up on the cold stone floor, eyes shut in sleep, close enough to touch and too far out of his reach. During those hours he was reminded again and again how completely his brother had been stolen from him. And yet, at the same time, he craved those hours, because it was only then that he could touch Subaru, only then that he could link hands and pretend everything was the way it used to be. At night, Kamui's touch unfailingly caused Subaru to flinch or panic now, shoving him away. So it was only during the day he could curl up beside the still form of his brother and try not to feel lonely.

Sometimes, lying there alone next to the still form of his brother, he wished… he hadn't been left behind. He wished… he could be oblivious to the long day-lit hours too…

It worried him though… how weak Subaru was, and getting weaker fast. He couldn't stand to sit back and watch his brother's strength slowly fade, but when he tried to help, he was pushed away. It was an acute sort of frustration, having to watch and not know what to do…

Yet, as the hours slipped by and he tried to stay as far away from Subaru as possible so as not to make things worse, he found himself more and more often starting conversations with Fuuma, desperate for any distraction. It was strange to find the other man's presence comforting, to look forward to the times when the other man was awake, to wish there weren't bars and stone walls separating them. Not that he wanted to be separated from Subaru! But just… frightening… the realization.

He wanted to be with Fuuma.

* * *

Not long after, Seishirou woke up to the cold conversation of two of the hunters on the other side of the bars.

"It's useless. If we take any of his blood, we'll kill him. He's too weak to sustain the loss."

"But if we can't take his blood, there's no point in keeping him…"

"What if he's _that_ Sakurazuka?"

"No." A head shake. "In the state he's in, he couldn't save anyone. It's best to just get rid of him…"

It didn't take Seishirou long to figure out who they were talking about. There was only one person who had been refusing to eat.

"Give the boy to me," he said suddenly, causing two pairs of eyes to shift his direction. "I'll get him to eat. He won't refuse me."

"You'll eat for both of you?" Satsuki asked, eyeing him in a way that said she was weighing the risks against the benefits.

"Yes."

There followed another moment of careful calculation. Then she nodded.

"Back away from the door."

A minute later Seishirou had jerked Subaru quite firmly into his arms, a protesting Kamui (who had been thrown in with Fuuma during the switch) a sort of distant, unimportant, background noise. Subaru was with _him_ now, not with the brother, and that was what mattered. Curling the fingers of one hand, Seishirou held it out, wrist-up to Subaru, because he knew the boy would never take anything without an invitation. It just wasn't in his nature. Subaru's slender hands slid along his arm, tugging faintly at the cuff of his sleeve, gently insistent little jerks. Then those deft fingers had the buttons free and were tracing softer than a sigh across his skin… until they hit the raised scars at his wrist. Emerald eyes turned to glance up at him sadly then—a glimpse of green sorrow shadowed by black lashes—before turning back to tentatively explore the damage with a whisper of fingertips. He enjoyed that soft touch for a second, but when Subaru's hand slid along the back of his, overlapping, he entwined the boy's fingers with his own, lacing them together and bending his wrist back. With a muffled moan, Subaru leaned in, lips tracing the faint blue web of veins before taking Seishirou's wrist carefully between his teeth and biting down. Seishirou pulled the boy against his chest with his free hand, enclosing him in his embrace.

He didn't say anything. It was better that way, with just that desperate contact connecting them. The feel of blood and skin and silky hair.

_I've missed you. _

_I'm glad you're alright. _

Better than words. More substantial.

When at last Subaru let go, he licked fitfully at the bite marks for awhile, lovingly tending to the wounds he'd inflicted, before curling up in the warmth of Seishirou's arms. For just that moment he was perfectly content. And between the inexorable warmth and the man's fingers in his hair, he dozed off quite quickly.

It wasn't much later that same night that someone else came in. Seishirou had known there were other hunters in the group, but up till that point only Yuuto and Satsuki had stayed with them for any length of time. If the others came at all, it was during the day. But when the door opened, it was a large, well-built man carrying an unconscious young girl that came in, followed by Yuuto and another pale-haired boy with a three-diamond mark on his forehead. Seishirou held tight to Subaru in his arms, watching them with passive disinterest as they deposited the girl in another cell along the adjacent wall and left, not failing to notice the almost pained look the larger man shot back over his shoulder at the last second.

_Four_, he thought, when they were gone. Four hunters for sure. Four Power-wielding opponents to be fought through to get out.

* * *

Kamui kicked the bars one last time for good measure.

"Considering Seishirou just offered to save your brother, you could be a bit more grateful." Fuuma raised an eyebrow. "Did you want your brother to die?"

"No!" Kamui's one-handed grip on the bars tightened, frustrated. "I… I'm thankful. Subaru will be okay. But why couldn't I have helped? Why wouldn't he let _me_ help?" Something about that irked him—not that it had been Seishirou who had interceded, but that Seishirou _could _help while he… he couldn't.

"You can help _me_…" Fuuma wrapped his arms around the boy, and Kamui shuddered as lips whispered along his jaw, a teasingly gentle grate of teeth over the bone.

"Fuuma!"

"What? Don't I deserve your help too?"

"That's not… mmf!"

Fuuma, who wasn't particularly interested in Kamui's reply, decided to use the boy's mouth for his own ends at that point, cutting off any further conversation. Kamui squirmed a bit when the man's hands glided over his hips, pulling him insistently away from the bars, before melting into that hold. There wasn't anything he could do after all. He'd have to trust Seishirou to take care of his brother for the time being, and anyway, having Fuuma pressed tight against him was much more pleasant than curling up against a cold, wet wall. Much more distracting too. And for awhile the time passed pleasantly. It felt good to have company in that cold place. Good to have warm hands around him, occasionally tracing absent circles across his stomach.

His gaze swung swiftly to the door when it was flung open, letting in new faces, but relaxed when it turned out to have nothing to do with them for a change…

After awhile, Kamui realized he'd been distracted from his purpose and picked up the thread of conversation again.

"Why would he go out of his way to save Subaru anyway?" he mused.

Fuuma chuckled, and Kamui felt the vibrations of it against his back. "I think your brother's a good influence on that man."

Kamui smiled a very little. "Subaru would be a good influence on a rock." And then the pleasant closeness that surrounded them was ripped wide open…

"Hello? Hello?!" A young girl poked her head out from between the bars on the other side of the room, a short fall of black hair framing her face. "Is someone there?"

No thanks to Fuuma, Kamui managed to struggle to his feet. "Here!"

"Thank goodness!" She laughed. "It's kind of boring in here by myself. I'm Nekoi Yuzuriha, by the way!"

"Monou Fuuma," Fuuma replied, rising to his feet as well. "Sakurazuka Seishirou." He gestured toward the wall, seeming to startle her and causing Seishirou to glance up. "And this one is Kamui." At which point her eyes widened with astonishment and something like awe.

"Kamui? Did you say your name was Kamui? The one who will save us? Sakurazuka Kamui?"

There followed a moment of utterly baffled and horrified silence while the implications of those words dawned on the other inhabitants of the room. It was Kamui who finally burst out, "You couldn't _pay _me to be related to that man!" right over top of Seishirou's calmly firm "I am _not _turning him…"

"But," the girl started, bouncing exuberantly on her toes, "he has to be! It's just like Lady Hinoto predicted!"

"Lady Hinoto?" Fuuma asked, suddenly suspicious. "You're not a member of that group that believes in the end of the world, are you?" The girl's eyes lit up in delight.

"So you've heard of us! Lady Hinoto sees things sometimes in her dreams…"

"And she said Kamui is going to save us?" Fuuma asked.

"That's what she said." Yuzuriha beamed. Everyone looked at Kamui. Kamui blinked back, the picture of ordinary.

"Uh," Kamui said, "I think there's been some mistake."

"Lady Hinoto doesn't make mistakes."

Fuuma snorted and turned away. "You've got the wrong person. Kamui doesn't have any Power…"

"But," Yuzuriha plowed on, undaunted, "you are a Kamui! And you're with a Sakurazuka! It's perfect!"

"Is that so?" A new voice interrupted them, cold and flat, causing Yuzuriha to jump a little in surprise. Satsuki stood in the door, having come in halfway through the conversation. "Kamui's the one we've been looking for all this time?" She considered him, and Kamui felt something cold slip into his stomach.

"Don't be ridiculous," Fuuma replied. "He's obviously not the right Kamui."

"Still," Satsuki said, "it won't hurt to check. Maybe it's a good thing we didn't dispose of you after all…"

"Checking really isn't necessary," Kamui hurried to protest, not liking where this was going.

"Nevertheless…" With one last look at Kamui that promised unspeakable things in store, she glided purposefully back out through the door…

* * *

**Author Note:** (Super long author note of doom!) This chapter is four days early because… TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!! ^_^ *is randomly excited* (I used to think November had the ugliest stone ever—I hate topaz—until I realized it's the same color as Sei's eyes! XD He's a Scorpio too?) And seeing as how I'm stuck up here at college with no real way to celebrate, the exuberance is coming out in a massive chapter-posting rush. *bounces* So! I'm all excited to post ch. 12! (Because I have it done, and what's more, I 'like' what I have done) But I don't want to lose the reviews I might have had if I'd waited three weeks. Conundrum! So in honor of this very UN-momentous occasion, I have several birthday wishes! If any of them actually come true, I'll post ch. 12! Normally I wouldn't post until three weeks, but I'll post early if:

1) The reviews for this chapter alone spill over onto two pages. That requires sixteen reviews (Yikes!), a feat I have never quite accomplished on any story… (though I came soooo close on chapter 2 with 14 reviews!) And yes, I selfishly admit, I'm trying to persuade some of the people I lost earlier to review again if they're still reading so I know they're there…

OR

2) If I get reviews from all four main characters in this story! (Seishirou, Subaru, Fuuma, Kamui) For instance, if a user with "Kamui" in his or her username reviewed, that would count as a review from Kamui. I'll count "Shirou" too as a Kamui review. Anonymous reviews, however, don't count for this one, because anonymous reviewers can post under any username they want. Sorry. I don't know how hard this one will be. Seeing as how I've only ever gotten one review from one of the characters, I figure it might be difficult. But ah, it's the simple things in life that amuse me, really… (Like the day my hit count hit 1999… XD)

Of course, I'll still post it in three weeks if that comes first. I loooove chapter 12, but then my Beta claims that that's simply because I'm happiest when I'm killing people, and I got to kill soooo many people in the next two chapters! *the epitome of joy* Also in the next chapter, just about everything people have asked me about… including Kamui finally finding out what Fuuma did, the truth about who's behind it all, whether or not Kamui's going to be stuck permanently human, why he doesn't have Power… Basically, all hell breaks loose.

Sooo… What's your favorite chapter? Why? And what do you think about all this stuff with Hinoto? Is she for real? Or is the end of the world just a delusional dream in this dimension? This makes the second character we've seen from her side—first Saiki and now Yuzuriha… Any idea who's behind it all yet? (Can you tell I love torturing my readers? :D)

_Quick notes about things so far:_ Nataku is a boy. Sorry, no bio-engineering in this age. There's a little girl version running around of him somewhere though (or maybe that's the little girl Seishirou killed when Subaru met him all those years ago… *smirk*). I've been taking bits and pieces from all sorts of different places, obviously. The pendant was taken from Seishirou in Tsubasa, and because they refer to him as a hunter, the pendant became the symbol of the hunters in this fic, simply because I want to know the importance of it, and correct or not, trying to fill in the gap amused me. (Actually, when I first got a good look at it, the first thing I thought was "Circle Daybreak!" XD Extra credit if you know where 'that' comes from!) Also, Seishirou and Subaru don't have shikigamis. I realized quite early on that while I wanted to stick as close to canon as possible, I couldn't allow them to find each other quite so easily.

_Hints leading to this chapter: _

"…some occult religion about the end of the world and a vessel that would be the bearer of God's will." –Fuuma, ch. 5

"It's the blood," Fuuma explained, smirking slightly. "Didn't you know? It heals."-Fuuma, ch. 7

"There are those who hunt us for our blood." –Sei, ch. 7

"…concentrating too hard on staying on his feet to notice the prickle of watching eyes from somewhere in the teaming throng behind him." –Kamui, ch. 6

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** *laughs*You seem to have done quite well keeping your review slot considering I didn't tell you about posting! Actually, you probably lucked out with it being Halloween and all, almost nobody hit on it the first day. Heh heh heh. Yes, I love torturing anyone who might be actually reading my response to you by putting horrible little hints here! *cackle* I want to post 12 so bad! But I don't want to lose reviews by posting early! So I'm hoping enough people will review so I can post already!

**Laustic:** It's true! Poor Subaru, I was telling my beta earlier that I hadn't realized I had established a pattern with Kamui always getting his bones broken and Subaru always getting stabbed! XD That was totally accidental.

**Shinken16:** The twins will get to see each other again under slightly better circumstances later, I think, but things will never be the same. No, you're right, that last chapter took forever to come out. Six weeks I think instead of three. It was because I had to get through ch. 12 so my Beta could look it over and make sure my plot was all in order. *laugh* It was Happy Halloween last time and Happy Birthday this time! Maybe it'll be Happy Thanksgiving next? ^_^ Yes, you got Satsuki and Yuuto. Though the reason I said (a chapter back, I think it was) to be careful grouping characters together is because it isn't necessarily the Dragons of Earth who are hunters. Most of them are, yes, but Saiki is one of them too, while Fuuma, Seishirou, and Kakyou aren't… So it's 'sort' of the Dragons of Earth? O_o Aw, unfortunately, I had to get Seishirou out of there, because I was sort of afraid he'd kill Kamui once he stopped focusing on trying to get out and realized the opportunity he had…

**Angel-Kamui:** Hey! I finally made your favorites list! :D Tricky, since this is only the second fic I've ever managed to get over 10 chapters in length… *turns faintly pink* Well, I'm glad I was able to update early then! I only wish I had all the chapters done now…

**Vampire Yumi:** Heh heh. I don't care one way or the other for Saiki either. (Thus, why he's now dead… XD) But anyway… *relishes* Oooh, yes, Kamui is not going to be happy about what Fuuma did… Kamui has been fairly pliant in this fic so far, and I've been awaiting this opportunity to show him MAD. However, while some people might enjoy a domineering Kamui (and while I fully admit I intend to allow him a little bit of payback first), ultimately Fuuma won't be doing that much squirming. He quickly figures out how to come out on top of the situation. ^_~ *laughs* It's true! When I first got into X, I complained rigorously to my Beta that considering Fu and Kam are the main characters, Sei and Su get all the attention in fics! I'm glad you're still reading this fic, considering how much Sei and Su 'I' write! You probably wouldn't like Natalie then. She writes Sei/Su too. (She's not on fanfiction . net)

Well, at least there was one more scene with Subaru and Kamui together, though once again the focus was elsewhere and not really on each other. When it's all over, then they'll have some time to talk, but in the mean time not so much. *hugs them* I'd tell you whether they're going to sort it out or whether Kamui's going to become one of them, but leaving you to contemplate the suspense is more fun. ^_^

Actually, Kusanagi's there, though the reference to him in this chapter is all you're going to see of him I think. You're right about Kakyou though. He's not on their side. And from the reference in this chapter, you probably already know that Nataku is too. Since you shouldn't yet know who's really behind it all though, I'm not going to comment on Kanoe or Hinoto just yet… Yep! There are Seals in it too! Though I definitely don't intend to drag them all into it! Too many characters already.

Heh heh. I like 'hearing' you talk about the plot and what's going on! Seriously, I love all my reviews, but ultimately, it's the ones that tell me what I did right and/or what they think is happening that are the most helpful, because I can use those to gauge how well I'm doing and how understandable my plot is. Unfortunately, I think sometimes people ar0e embarrassed to guess wrong or something, but knowing that people are getting it wrong helps me fix it! More than once someone has asked me something that made me add to the next chapter real quick.

**Akuma-river:** Well, at least a couple of your questions got answered. Yes, Kamui only got knocked out. (I have really got to stop breaking that kid's bones… ) But then, as you said, he's only human. Now you should know they're not actually after the twins. The twins were just a good way to get to Seishirou. *grins* I like that you didn't ask "why doesn't Kamui have Power" and instead asked "Does Kamui have Power?" Not quite ready to believe he doesn't, hm? *smirk* I don't think anybody else is ready to believe he doesn't yet either. But I think you'll have the answer by the end of next chapter. ^_~

It's true! I'm not disagreeing! A lot of the time that happens to me too. I'm not always so good at continuously reviewing. But… call me paranoid… I'd rather err on the side of caution than ever find out I really did hurt someone. It always seems to me that it's hard to go wrong when you apologize…

**LeiCross:** Casablanca? Wah! It is you! It is! Ah! You'll find out what's going on with Sei and Fuuma's memories next chapter! ^_~

**Nekoi:** It's your namesake of course! XD Yuzuriha! Let's put it this way: Not necessarily your favorite character, but a character you remind me of. And you were inadvertently part of the reason I decided to use her. It was like "We'll use a character named after one of my reviewers!" ^_^ *laughs over "cleanup on isle three"* Poor Fuuma! At least they're finally back together this chapter, ne? Enjoy the fluff while you can though, because next chapter is all dark and angsty! (my favorite… XD) And of course, there's an even 'worse' cliffhanger coming up. Oh! I swear everyone has now asked when Kamui's going to find out what Fuuma did! But like I said in my author note, we're almost there. Next chapter. As for Seishirou possibly losing an eye to save Subaru… *cackles* I think I'll let you read the next chapter and find out! *is evil, but totally enjoys your reviews*

**Zuzanny:** *laughs* I'm glad you're enjoying it! ^_^ I hope this chapter helps! And hopefully the next one will be up sooner if enough people review… *excited about posting it*

**Leuv:** It's true. I think Saiki's death accomplished more than his life ever did. It got Kamui to fight back (that was a beautiful moment). But more than that, it broke Hinoto and started the whole chain of events with her. Heh heh heh. Of course they're not going to let Fuuma die! They need him alive! ('I' need him alive! XD)


	12. The Illusion

**Note: **Congrats to JJ, the only one who managed to guess SIX MONTHS AGO who was really responsible for what was going on. That calls for a cookie, really. You want 16 bits or 32? ^_~

**Chapter 12**

The Illusion

"I think your time has run out, Kamui-kun," Seishirou murmured dispassionately in the ringing silence of Satsuki's departure. "If they even remotely think you're the one in the dream, they'll never let you go. They're going to turn you just to find out."

"I am _not_ going to be a Sakurazuka," Kamui replied adamantly, staring flatly at the man. "You killed Hokuto-chan and Subaru…"

Seishirou usually couldn't care less what others thought of him, but he was really getting tired of being blamed for things he hadn't done. "Actually, I didn't kill your brother. You have your companion there to thank for that." And while Kamui stood there rooted to the ground in surprise, he turned to Fuuma and continued. "You're going to lose him."

"No," Fuuma replied, resolved. "This is one dream that's not coming true. How long do you think they'll be?"

"Long enough." Seishirou's smirk was a bit too knowing. For once, Fuuma thought they might have been thinking the exact same thing. One way or another, these people were going to find a way to make Kamui a Sakurazuka. If he wasn't the one from the dream, well, they'd just have themselves one more vampire to torture, and Kamui would forever belong to Seishirou's bloodline. But if he _was_… (and really, that wasn't possible, because Kamui had no Power—the gashes that hadn't healed earlier had been proof of that—and one didn't suddenly _gain _Power by being turned) But if he was… Fuuma looked at Seishirou and knew they couldn't allow that. They couldn't give these people another weapon. And more to the point, Fuuma refused to give them Kamui… Just as adamantly as he refused to allow Kamui to be linked to the other man. Whatever yumemi had dreamt up _that _little vision was destined to be wrong. Fuuma was going to make sure of it.

"It's not going to work!" Yuzuriha caroled from across the room. But no one paid her any attention.

Kamui, still reeling from the ramifications of Seishirou's earlier statement, turned on Fuuma, mind putting the pieces together furiously. Fuuma had been the one to tell him Subaru was dead, but he had never said who killed him… Never mentioned… Kamui spluttered and struggled toward coherent sentences. All that time! Fuuma had simply let him assume…

"Is it true?" The words, when they finally came, were strangely empty. "Are you the one who killed Subaru?"

"Kamui…" Fuuma extended a hand to him as if he hadn't heard at all, and Kamui jerked back from his touch into the wall

"Don't you dare!" His voice rose sharply, venomously. "Don't you _dare_! How could you?!" He backed away slowly, sliding along the wall, keeping his eyes on the other man. "Were you just going to go on letting me believe you had nothing to do with it?!" Fuuma advanced and Kamui scuttled backward, trying in vain to put more space between them in the small cell. "Don't you—mmf!" The yelp was cut off as Fuuma pounced, clamping a hand firmly over the boy's mouth, satisfactorily silencing him. Then, while Kamui tore at the offending hand with sharp nails, he snagged his other arm around the boy's waist and pulled him into his arms, crushing that slender body against his own.

"Make sure he doesn't make any more noise." Through the bars, Seishirou pinned Fuuma with a measured gaze. Fuuma returned it with a condescending slant of eyes, all contemptuousness, then dragged his struggling prize into the far corner, out of the other man's line of sight.

He curled up with the boy in his lap, not quite as effortlessly as if there hadn't been a spell suppressing his strength, but well enough considering Kamui was kicking and clawing and making it incredibly difficult to hold him down. But Fuuma managed it, dragging rough fingers through the boy's silken hair before grabbing a fistful of the shorter strands at the nape of the neck in a painfully tight grip.

"Kamui, Kamui, Kamui…" the man chided, even as he used that grip to pull the boy down head first, slowly forcing that agile body to bend impossibly backward over his knee in a long, lithe arc. For a moment he simply enjoyed the heady smell of summer and warmth that always enveloped the boy. "I'd stop worrying about what I might or might not have done to your brother if I were you. And start worrying about what I'm going to do to you…" He breathed into the soft skin under Kamui's jaw. And though the boy continued squirming furiously, any response was drowned out by the hand he still had clamped over the boy's mouth. Fuuma continued as if nothing had happened. "You said you wouldn't leave me. But in the very act of saying that, you were lying. You lied to me! You can no more stay with me than a leaf can keep itself from fading in the fall. But I'm not going to allow it. You're going to keep your promise, Kamui. Even if I have to kill you myself." Kissing that smooth expanse of bared throat, he jerked the boy's head back even further, keeping that body drawn back in a long, taut arc over his lap, and bit down.

A small hand thudded uselessly against his chest—opened and splayed wide against his shirt, pushing up at his larger form, straining desperately. He didn't mind it when that hand clawed blindly at his arm, his chest, raking angry furrows in the skin—didn't mind the heated, frustrated murmurs of drowned protests vibrating against his lips as he lapped at the boy's brilliant blood. Fighting the seduction. Pointless.

Sudden stinging in his hand made him start. Then he realized the boy had bitten him. He chuckled.

_That's right, Kamui. Just exactly like that. You're a natural. _

Amused, he bit deeper, drinking the boy in till the pleasure drowned everything else out. He wanted the boy—wanted him just the way he was, flustered and fiery and passionate and all. For a second he stopped to wonder when that had happened, when he'd started _wanting_ this boy so desperately. Had it been when he'd faced Seishirou? Or earlier, watching the boy get lost in the crowded streets time after time? Or when he'd stretched out his hand to take the boy with him into the city? Or had it been… had it been when he'd heard a voice calling for help and found himself staring into wide, amethyst eyes?

It didn't matter anymore. He wasn't going to let the boy go. Not this one. Not now. The boy was going to stay with him, whether he liked it or not. Forever. And as Kamui's blood coated his tongue, beyond the pleasant warmth and lassitude that consumed him—the fine shimmer of ecstasy—there was that glitter of gold again, too fine to be sifted out or caught and examined. Filling him.

Fuuma didn't stop when Kamui's struggles became too weak to be effectual—didn't stop until the heart beating in that lovely chest was stuttering helplessly.

When the body bent backward across his knees was shivering silently, translucent skin cool against his hands, only then did he stop. Only then did he finally let go.

* * *

"Kamui?" Subaru came awake with a start, head lifting for foggy green eyes to scan the room, brows furrowed. An impending sense of wrongness beat at him. For a second he struggled to identify it—to put a name to the rapid beating of his heart and the itch in his feet—then, with methodical precision, his head turned to face the cell his brother was in, like a needle spinning to face north. "Kamui?!" He stood and started for the bars that divided them, dragged by a force beyond thought, beyond reason.

Alerted by the boy's sudden start and cry, Seishirou caught him halfway there, wrapping one arm around his thin waist from behind, and attempted to hold him back.

"Subaru-kun, stop!" Seishirou tried to get the boy's attention, but Subaru struggled against him, squirming in his hold. Finally, with one particularly agile twist, thin wrists were jerked free of his grip and the boy threw himself forward, calling pleadingly for his brother. Subaru clung to the bars, pressed against them so firmly they cut into his skin, one hand stretched out desperately. Stung, Seishirou stared after him, uncomprehending. Subaru had never just ignored him. Still standing where he'd been left, he watched the boy with a growing sense of unease.

"Subaru-kun." The voice, when it came, was deceptively soft. "Look at me." Seishirou stood stone still with all the calm that preceded the storm, cold and merciless. Oblivious to the impending danger, Subaru only continued to claw at the bars, as though he hadn't heard him at all, raking bloody fingernails along the cold metal. He had always been so obedient before. But now… now Seishirou wasn't so certain. And he wouldn't stand to be ignored.

"_Subaru_-kun." The words were sharper than before—a warning. "Come here." And a set of conflicted eyes was at last lifted to meet his, glazed with distress. Recognition. But other than that he made no move, caught in the grip of panic and desperation and fear for his brother. And that just wouldn't do. Seishirou's eyes narrowed. "Subaru. Come. Here." There was another agonizing second of indecision, and finally the boy turned toward him fully, one hand sliding free of the bars. He stood like that, whole body shuddering under the weight of two opposing forces, before taking a lurching step towards Seishirou. Just one. Then another, each successive step gaining firmer resolve. Seishirou let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding as the boy approached. And as Subaru drew nearer, the boy reached out, beseeching, clinging to Seishirou when the man made no move to touch him, standing firm and unyielding.

Subaru clutched desperately at the hard lines of that unyielding body, pressing himself against the man tightly.

"Seishirou-san." He jerked on the man's shirt for emphasis, clutching at the material with those bloodied nails, determined that he listen. "Something's wrong with Kamui! He's hurt! He can't… he can't die!"

"I really don't care about your brother." The reply was coldly succinct. Unmoved.

"I promised! I promised Obaa-chan! I promised nothing would happen! And now it'll break! Kamui…" Frustrated tears welled up as Subaru tried to make him understand.

"What will break?" Suddenly confused, Seishirou attempted to pull out the important pieces.

"I swore I wouldn't tell!"

"Subaru-kun," Seishirou caught the boy by the shoulders and held him firm, "_what _will break?"

Subaru gulped and looked away. "The… The seal…"

Seishirou still didn't understand what exactly the boy was babbling about, but suddenly he had a really bad feeling about the whole thing.

"I think… there's something you need to tell me…"

But at that point there were footsteps at the door and Subaru tensed, wide-eyed, as Satsuki and Yuuto returned. Sooner than anticipated. Seishirou started to call out a warning to Fuuma, sure that they'd stop him now, but instead, Yuuto's gaze swept over Fuuma and Kamui somewhat mechanically, as if he hadn't seen them… turning straight to Subaru and Seishirou…

* * *

Fuuma straightened, pulling the boy up with him. Kamui leaned limply against his shoulder, good hand curling and uncurling feebly in his shirt. Fuuma ignored the weak breaths fanning against his neck as he bit his own wrist, teeth digging deeply into the skin, and drew a mouthful of blood.

Then he leaned down and kissed the boy.

He was met with minimal resistance at first as Kamui tried to pull pathetically away from him, but he crushed such pointless rebellion easily, catching the boy's jaw in a bruising grip and parting the less-than-pliant lips with a rough tongue. The blood spilled between them, from Fuuma to Kamui. The boy made a noise at that—a sort of smothered half protest, half whimper—and jerked faintly in Fuuma's grip. Fuuma didn't let go, pressing down mercilessly on that pretty mouth even while tipping the boy's chin further up, until he choked and swallowed… and simultaneously started coughing.

Quickly, Fuuma bit down on his own wrist again and then recaptured that mouth before it could be turned away. Kamui tried a bit more forcefully to resist this time, anticipating what was coming and trying weakly to twist free.

_Enough of that now_, Fuuma thought, wrapping the fingers of his free hand around the boy's broken wrist. A little pressure was all it took. Kamui winced—made a stuttered little "A-ah" of pain that was drowned out by the warm liquid coating his tongue, sliding down his throat.

Drawing another mouthful of blood, Fuuma curled his fingers tighter around that wrist warningly, and finally Kamui submitted, opening with a shudder to his prodding kiss. Swallowed.

_A bird_, Fuuma thought, staring down at the pale, shivering body in his arms. _Broken and featherless and incapable of flight._ He smirked, bending to the faint blue tracery of veins in his wrist again. _But I'm sure you'll be beautiful when you fledge. _

When at last he'd judged the boy had had enough, he released his hold on the twisted wrist.

"It'll be over soon," Fuuma whispered, licking the blood from Kamui's lips. Amethyst eyes stared up at him accusingly, silently condemning. But then the first faint flickers of pain splintered behind that stare, and those eyes widened.

"Fuuma-a-ah!" An uncertain little question fractured upon a gasp…

…and Fuuma clamped a hand back over that pretty mouth to smother the screams.

* * *

"The little one, right?" Yuuto asked, unlocking the door. And behind him, Satsuki nodded. Seishirou's hold on Subaru tightened, dragging the boy away from the bars. He'd expected them to come after him to turn Kamui, but with sudden alarm, he realized they didn't need him at all. Subaru was, after all, a Sakurazuka too now. So he held onto the boy tightly, determined not to let him go. But with the spell suppressing his natural speed and endurance down to human level, he couldn't dodge arrows at so close a range. The first thunked into his side, then higher, when he wouldn't let go of Subaru, into his shoulder. Seishirou stared at the hunters, unyielding. But in his arms, Subaru was staring in horror at the shafts, squirming desperately to free himself. Seishirou's grip was vice-like though, and the boy's struggles were futile, even as he pleaded with the older man.

"Seishirou-san! Stop it! You're hurt! Please!"

Seishirou ignored the boy's cries, refusing to relinquish him to _them _again. But when the next arrow hit the arm he had wrapped bar-like around Subaru, he couldn't keep the boy from exploiting that second when his grip loosened, squirming away and out, between him and Yuuto at the door.

"No! Stop!" Subaru cried, throwing himself in the way of further shots. "Stop! I'll come! I'll do whatever you want! Just stop hurting him!" And as Satsuki pulled him out of Seishirou's reach, closing the door and wrapping one arm around the boy's shoulders tightly, Seishirou felt cold heat rise within him. An uncontainable restlessness. The sudden desire to tear through the bars or kick down the walls or…

Stupid boy. Stupid. Always having to save everyone else. Always so selfless. Always the martyr.

Seishirou pulled the arrow shafts out with deft jerks, ignoring the blood that stained his shirt, and paced liked a caged panther in front of the door, watching Satsuki with unwavering amber eyes.

_You touch him. You _dare_ touch him… _

Satsuki smiled at him. A cold, cruel little smile, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Slowly, the arm she was using to pin Subaru to her rose, till her fingers curled around the boy's neck, tightening imperceptibly. Subaru choked, hands coming up to loosen the death grip on his throat.

"What are you doing?" Yuuto asked suddenly. "We need him alive!"

Satsuki's gaze flickered to him suddenly, and Yuuto had a single second to realize how wrong the world was, to think he should never have called attention to himself, to stop cold. There wasn't a hair physically out of place, but looking into those eyes during that single second, something inside him jumped in alarm, and it was just enough time to think… _this isn't Satsuki_. Then her hand shot out, angling upward at a vicious slant, quickly turning into an all-too-familiar strike… through Yuuto's heart.

Subaru, still caught firmly in Satsuki's grip, jerked as blood splattered his face.

"Satsuki-chan…" Yuuto stared in mild surprise at the arm firmly embedded in his chest, hand buried in his heart. "Who are you?" He looked up at her, astonished and confused… and collapsed.

Stuck behind the bars, Seishirou stood in an acute state of awareness. He knew—with sudden, sharp, _blinding_ clarity, he knew… They were dead. Both of them. Not just Yuuto, lying crumpled on the stone, but the girl as well.

Satsuki was dead too.

"Okaa-san," he whispered. For a second, Satsuki stood there, hand dripping with Yuuto's blood, watching him, then slowly the image shimmered, wavered, guttering out, and a woman took Satsuki's place, long black hair falling to the floor.

"Is _this_," a tiny pink tongue darted along the line of the slender neck she still held too tightly in her hand, causing Subaru to squirm, "why you stopped playing?"

Because it was a game—it had always been a game—and he'd failed to put the pieces together in time. There had been too _many_ pieces, too many different puzzles overlapping. He had failed. And now Subaru was going to pay for it.

But now that he knew what the pieces were supposed to look like, they made sense. It wasn't that his memories had been tampered with, or Fuuma's for that matter. He had been right initially to think his memories were correct, that no one had managed to mess with them. He simply hadn't seen what was real in the first place. It wasn't his memories that had been changed, but the appearance of the world itself. Maboroshi.

"You… You used an illusion so it would look like you'd killed Monou-san. You turned him, knowing he'd come after me." _Monou-san's a Sakurazuka_…

"Oh, so you want to keep playing now? Isn't it a little late?" The tips of her fingers tapped lightly against Subaru's pale throat, the sharp little points of her nails a staccato warning.

"Did you tell the hunters where to find me too?" Seishirou stared back at her, golden gaze burning through the bars that separated them, willing her with his eyes to watch him, to focus on him, to forget about Subaru.

But she smiled, a small little smirk, and tilted laughing eyes at him, like she knew. And she probably did.

"I can see why you stopped playing." The words whispered inside Subaru's ear, secretively, as her eyes sought and held Seishirou's. "He _is_ pretty." The flick of that tiny tongue again, wet against sensitive skin. "But Seishirou, you know better than to invite new players without permission."

_No_, Seishirou thought, _I was unaware the game continued with one of the players presumed dead for half a century. But that's what you wanted, wasn't it?_

On the other side of the bars, Subaru gasped for air, trying to breathe around the tiny fingers curled sharply around his throat, just a hair's breadth shy of suffocating. Deftly, Setsuka caught one of the feeble hands scrabbling at her grip. Bending it brutally backward at the wrist, she brought it to her mouth, traced with tongue and tooth the winding blue thread of life under the skin from wrist to inner elbow and up along the more sensitive underside of his arm.

"Did my Seishirou give you his blood? He used to only give it to me…" A flicker of fingertips, this time at his hip, pushing beneath his clothes to trace the vein there, and Subaru squirmed under the unexpected intrusion, kicking out desperately. But then the hand was withdrawn and she shoved him suddenly backward. The edge of the table dug painfully into his lower back.

"Do you squirm so when _he_ touches you?" She smiled condescendingly, but the question was rhetorical—Subaru could no more answer than he could breathe. "I think… you'll be much more pliant when I'm done." And then she bit deep into the line of his throat. Subaru's breath caught, lodged where her hand cut it off, but then the dizzying draw of pleasure started to drag as his consciousness, and reality dissolved into incoherent colors, meaningless compared to the breathtaking ecstasy consuming him. A pleasant lassitude pulled at his limbs, making movements slow and fumbling. Difficult to think. Difficult to care. He moaned, limp and listless and totally at her mercy.

Then, just as quickly as she had started, she let go, leaving Subaru gasping wordlessly, dazed and confused and still half drugged.

_Pliant_, she had said, and frustration welled up in him with the humiliation.

Smiling darkly, she leaned back down closely. "Does he love you?" Whispered in his ear again. Whispered so Seishirou couldn't hear. She was watching him again, watching for the slightest shift behind those flat eyes as she held the boy to her chest. Knowing.

Subaru flinched as those delicate, dangerous fingers brushed the side of his face, gently pushing stray strands of hair behind the curve of his ear. She smiled down at him pleasantly as she traced the feathery lashes of his right eye

"So pretty," she mused. "Such a shame. You'll never see him again." The fingertips that had been resting over his eye curled suddenly, jabbing deep into flesh and tissue. Subaru jerked. "And when I'm through with you, he'll never want you anymore." She hummed a few bars of some lullaby, fingers buried to the hilt in his skull, digging deeper.

"Setsuka!" Seishirou, trapped behind the bars. Setsuka laughed delightedly—a tinkle of breaking glass, a thousand bells shattering.

But at that point they were both interrupted.

There was a sudden prickling along Seishirou's skin, the crawling of a hundred little feet. It came unexpectedly and passed over them—through them—washing away the world around them. Reality _rippled_—distorted the way a road does on a blistering sunny day in a heat wave.

Setsuka looked up, startled.

And everything exploded.

* * *

Kamui shuddered one last time in Fuuma's grip.

And then… something broke. Inside. Fuuma felt the reverberations all the way to his fingertips and toes—felt the strength of it jerk the body in his arms—and for one wild second he thought the boy's spine had snapped. One infinite second in which Kamui lay unmoving in his arms and the pressure in the room seemed to double and double again and he could only sit there, frozen, mind racing—repeating over and over again on an infinite loop… _Something is wrong. _

But before he could sort through what had just happened. Before he could even blink…

There was a second snap—the high snap of a spell stressed beyond its ability to endure, to _suppress_—and the wind howled as the backlash exploded outward. But Fuuma barely registered any of that, because after that second snap… the blood inside him burst into flame.

* * *

**Author Note:** *cackles* I love my reviewers' guesses! By far the idea I love best… Yes! Subaru, as Kamui's brother, is officially the true Twin Star, and next chapter he'll start his mission to terrorize and destroy all of humanity!!! (readers: o_o "She's lost her mind!") Seishirou: *shocked beyond all possible reasoning* Fuuma: "He's your pet, Seishirou. Do something about it!" (JOKE) No, but that would have been a GREAT idea! I love the irony! (some of my reviewers are geniuses and I only wish the idea had been mentioned 'before' I planned out my whole story…)

Ah-hem. Out of respect for all the reviewers who tried to get us towards that 16 review goal, even though we didn't make it, and due to the fact that I have final tests Thursday and Friday, I'm posting a day early. ^^, It's too bad about not getting any new character reviews though. I would have LOVED to get a Subaru one! *_* Though really, I'm just happy no one told me I was an idiot and to be more grateful for what I have and that they'd totally lost any and all respect for me as a writer and that… *shrinks* Thank you…

Next chapter, Seishirou has to take on his insane mother in a maboroshi battle (I thought one maboroshi was bad enough! T_T). Now there are two insane people running around instead of one. *grin* Meanwhile, Fuuma is having his own problems and quickly realizing just how badly they screwed up when they decided it would be better for him to change Kamui.

**Hints leading to this chapter: **

"…to a strange woman with long black hair dragging him out of bed, clamping a hand over his mouth so tight he was practically suffocating." –Fuuma, ch. 5

"I woke up a vampire… after you two left." –Fuuma, ch. 10

**Review Responses: **

**Nekoi:** Eh heh. Sorry about that. I write too much in my review responses. ^^, I was just noticing earlier, my story is actually only reading about 45k, but ff . net is already registering it as 60k due to all the author notes and responses. A 15-thousand word difference. *whistles* But I love all you guys' reviews so much, I can't help it! And well, the good news is you don't have much longer to wait. This story is almost finished.

**Zuzanny:** Ah, the thing with the hunter is a story I'm not going to write. They know each other, Yuzuriha and Kusanagi. I don't think Kusanagi will leave her there. But since neither of them is important in this fic, I don't intend to go into it. *bursts out laughing suddenly* Sorry, I first read that next line as "I really want Subaru to be with Kamui," and I thought, "Ah, I might have to disappoint here." But luckily I caught the mistake. And actually… *feral grin* you're not entirely wrong. I want Kamui to be 'that' Kamui, mainly because Fuuma and Kamui are woefully behind power-wise right now and I want to even out the playing field. But this world isn't quite the same as X, and there are… ways your wish could become reality. (I don't know what would amuse me more: if Subaru turned out to be the Kamui, or if Subaru turned out to be the Twin Star and started destroying everything… *Fuuma and Sei gape*)

**angel-kamui:** Ah, I see! Wow, that was kind of lucky then. This is only my second fic that's passed 10 chapters! (I can't believe it got this long! o_o) I can understand. A favorite's list fills up really quickly if you fave every oneshot that's half decent. *giggles gleefully* That's why I like CLAMP too! I guess they do have a few light, fluffy ones (Angelic Layer), but CLAMP's serious side is gooood… You are my only character review! *hugs*

**Laustic:** And now Setsuka too! Heh, you know when three different people all tell you you're in love, it's a sign. ^_~ I don't think he'll ever admit it in so many words, but maybe it's starting to sink in. Oh! I'm glad someone liked ch. 6! It has the fewest reviews and for the longest time had the fewest hits. *beams*

**akuma-river:** Really? That's awesome! Happy (belated) Birthday to you too then! Wow, there are more Scorpio birthdays than I thought! *laughs* Or dinner for Fuuma… ^_^ Either one. I think Subaru would have been a bit traumatized if he'd woken up to find 'Seishirou' ah… eating Kamui (that might have been an amusing scene to write… XD). But the boys weren't about to let it get that far if they could help it (not that their solution did much good). Mm, Kamui might actually be the one who can save them, but I don't think he realizes he's doing it. Actually! That's exactly was I was afraid people were going to think! As soon as I said "Kamui Sakurazuka," I thought it sounded so dorky, and I was afraid people would jump to the wrong conclusion: "Seishirou is secretly Kamui and Subaru's missing father!" Noooo. That's why I added in that line from Sei about "not turning him," in an attempt to stall that train of thought before it got started.

**Luna Moonserf:** Luna! Luna! I'm so glad you don't hate meeee! T_T You 'always' reviewed, so when you suddenly stopped, I thought I'd done something, written something maybe that got taken the wrong way. I remember, that was the time I shortened my response, because I wanted to post and it was taking me too long to write to everybody, and then I thought maybe you'd been offended that I didn't write back as thoroughly as usual, and *deep breath* I'm so glad that's not true! (And I'm very sorry you got suspended!) Wah, that's awesome to share a birthday with Sei though! I didn't used to know hardly anyone who had a Scorpio birthday, and now there're so many of us! *laughs* I'm glad my revelation was of some use! (and that you're sister 'didn't' manage to kill you, because I appreciated the review very much) Seishirou's so cute when he's being possessive! (don't tell him I told you that! O_O) Good luck avoiding the mother person! And I hope your banishment ends soon… Talk about no fun!

**TheLadyPendragon:** Holy cow, that makes three of my reviewers so far who have had November birthdays, and the second one on the 12th! Happy 18th! ^_^ I am, I think, both loving and hating having all the characters together. Hating, because it feels like all I wrote in ch. 11 was characters catching up on what other characters knew ("You're alive! You're… a vampire!" "You're with the guy who tried to kill me!") Loving, because it means character interactions that were impossible with them all separated are now available options, particularly as you mentioned with Sei and Fuuma gaining guarded respect for each other. Oh, don't even remind me about the homework thing! I was in the labs ALL WEEK last week till like 10 every night doing one project or another. I had a few days free this last weekend and now I'm in the middle of finals (has one final and a final project due Thursday and two essay finals due Friday). The end of the quarter/semester is always the worst. I hope you're out now at least (I will be in two days).

It is my personal belief that Sei is in denial. XD Setsuka: "You love him, don't you?!" Sei: "Not you too!" (Even the author is against him) Though I don't know if anyone will actually come out and say it in the end—I tend to stick to canon in that regard, and I can only push Sei so far. I've seen a couple people get around this problem by saying the words in Japanese though (and one in French… XD That was a good fic).

Never underestimate the human! Of course he's the right Kamui! (as Fuuma is painfully becoming aware) As for a Twin Star, I'll let you read the next chapter first. Subaru or Seishirou or both 'would' have been forced to turn Kamui, yes, but your second guess came true first. If you keep throwing ideas out there, you're bound to be right eventually! ^_^ I actually thought more people would put that together and be all like "Wait… what if the person who turned Fuuma was a Sakurazuka?" But no. You're one of the only people to pick up on that. (you must have mind-reading abilities)

*bluuuuuush* ^///^ Aw, I'm going to be red for a week! *hides under the pillows in mortification* I-It's really that good? *sputters, dies, blushes furiously* Ah, you're worse than Sei! *pulls her hat over her eyes like Su* My story makes people happy? *sort of awed* I'm um, sort of relieved to know I won't have to worry about stalkers, though I don't think I would mind so much being stalked by such wonderful fans. XD

**fan-fan31:** *hugs* Glad to have you back! Too many alerts and all! ^_^ I can understand that. I get bogged down in homework some weeks and can't respond to people as thoroughly as I want. Even though I didn't get 16 reviews, I think I might post a day early at the least since I'm going to have lots of finals the day this chapter is actually due. Funny enough, I got some people back and lost others and somehow it just all evened out. I hope the wait was worth it at least.

**Leuv:** It might have been more prudent to get the whole "you tried to kill my brother?!" thing over with earlier, but I wanted to wait till Kamui was a bit more 'attached' to Fuuma first, partly because it would make the news all the more devastating, and partly because then I could be more assured Kamui would forgive him in the end. So Kamui might be upset now, but he hasn't stopped caring really. I haven't written it yet, but I'm hoping the most fun part with them will be in the epilogue when everything's worked out, seeing how they get along. ^_^

**LeiCross:** Nope! Not Yuuto! ^_^ Though I'm sure you know that now. The hunters aren't vampires, so they couldn't change a person's memories even if they wanted to. Oh yes, Kamui knows Subaru is a vampire. He figured it out when Subaru told him he smelled good. ^_~ Well, that would be the reason I put it in the X category, because I knew this is where it was going. But there's a lot of TRC stuff too. My other fics are mostly TRC. This was just a weird, in-between one. I personally didn't find any of the deaths all that heart-rending, but I guess if you really like Satsuki… XD Hey! My mom's a Gemini! So is my brother! Almost direct opposites! That's awesome!

**Shinken16:** Thank you! I'm… way too old. XD Okay, I'm actually 23 now (at least I think I am—I refused to keep track after 18…) so it's not that bad. I found out a lot of the X writers are actually older. Well, even though it's not one of the characters I was looking for, even if I count it, that's still only 2 character reviews! T_T Does one day count as early? ^^, *passes out popcorn* YEAH! Party! *watches Satsuki and Yuuto die* "And another one bites the dust!"Anyway… It looks like ch. 8 "starvation" is the favorite right now. Note to self: Fluff wins out. XD


	13. End Game

**Chapter 13**

End Game

Seishirou was moving even before the dust settled, dodging the bits of debris. He could feel the spell that held him dissolving, freeing him from its grasp. The keen force of his focus was brought to bear before him, sending the door swinging open even before he burst through it. Then he was free of oppressing walls and invisible locks. The explosion had briefly wiped out his field of vision, blocking the rest of the room from view, and now that he could more or less see again, it was only to find the room empty, Setsuka and Subaru both missing.

It brought him up short, staring at the table where just a few seconds prior Setsuka had had the boy bent double backwards. The thoughts pounding through his head were cold, clinical things, each as empty as the next. _She'll kill him. She'll want to take his blood if she has a chance, but he's a threat to her now. She'll kill him. _

Seishirou had almost lost the boy once—he had not forgotten the biting cold that accompanied the thought of the loss. Already, the horrible emptiness was creeping in—emptiness where the boy had been. A gaping hole. And it was… awful. The realization was startling, strange.

He didn't want Subaru to die.

Of course, there was still the possibility that, even if he managed to get Subaru back, the boy would still be damaged irreparably. He didn't know how long Setsuka's fingers had been buried in the boy's skull, preventing the damage from healing properly. It wasn't just the lost eye, the physical scarring. That would have been bad enough. If she had stabbed deep enough, long enough, Subaru might have been mentally damaged as well…

Either way, he had to find them.

It only took a second to make the decision and then, ignoring the scene going on behind him—the chunks of stone fragments still swirling in the air, buoyed by impossible forces—he hurried toward the door.

* * *

Betrayal was a sharp ache twisting inside, suffocatingly tight, constricting his throat, breaking bitterly over his tongue. Kamui squeezed his eyes shut and forcefully swallowed the pain back down, locking it inside, locking out the overpowering mass of brilliant sensations beating at him. In the darkness behind his eyelids there was no blinding brightness, no stabbing clarity. Except for the shriek of mutilated metal and grate of grinding stone—sounds he could not quite block out, even with his hands pressed crushingly tight over his ears. Confusing sensations, like the buzzing of bees he couldn't swat away. He didn't know where the others were, didn't know if they were okay, didn't know why he hadn't yet been crushed by crumbling walls or even if his feet were on the ground. He felt detached, separate, apart from things like time and gravity, as if floating in a void, an empty space in the center of a storm.

The memory of that night he'd thought he'd lost Subaru—lost the only family he had left—was a raw wound, the fear still fresh and pelting along the edges of the void around him like acid rain, corroding it away. A rumble of red lightning flickered far off in the distance. It hurt (a terrible pain that swallowed self and sanity) to know the truth. Though he couldn't explain why knowing Fuuma had done it should make such a difference—should make the pain redouble.

Had he cared about the man so much?

The thought was strangely illuminating. And bitter. Had the man's constant presence been so reassuring?

He was such a fool.

The lightning hit closer, licked the edges of his thoughts now, brilliant flashes of molten fury, and the storm spiraled sinisterly.

"Kamui?" The voice was external, from the world on the other side of his eyelids. Fuuma. Startled. Uncertain.

And suddenly, in that place void of up or down or distance, there was _direction. _Kamui jerked toward the sound of that voice, amethyst eyes snapping wide, and the void cracked open before the force of his focus. The debris still circling in the air stilled in warning. Then it was too late. The storm pent up inside him lashed out, renting the very air as it sliced forward, the ground beneath popping and cracking with a sickening shriek.

Fuuma, still half dealing with his own internal conflict, didn't dodge in time. It hit him—ripped through him, slamming him backward bonelessly into the far wall, which cracked dangerously under the impact. He dropped to his knees, hissing at the stab of pain. Kamui was a sight—the focal point of the chaos that swept the room. The air vibrated, seething in a semi-solid circle of stone fragments and twisted metal—a shell of debris with a living, amethyst-eyed core.

Not _his _blood that had burst aflame, he decided, but Kamui's blood inside him, running through his veins. Liquid fire. Kamui's Power. Inside him.

It was wrong. All wrong. Since when had changing a person had that kind of effect? Sure, he'd altered the boy's blood, but that shouldn't have… The thought ground to a halt. Blood. Like that golden fire inside him, burning even now. Something about the boy's blood… Fuuma frowned. He had a bad feeling someone had neglected to tell him vital, need-to-know information.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the explosion had at least had one positive effect. Yuzuriha had managed to get out and was scrambling out of the way, having enough sense to not get involved. But his attention was quickly brought back to the problem at hand.

The eyes Kamui turned on him were empty, dead things. The air pressure doubled and doubled again. Fuuma knew he couldn't take another hit like the first. Desperately, he sought some means of defense. The boy's Power was inside him, coursing through him. He lifted his arm, testing. It flickered along his fingertips, gathered, faltered as he lost focus. Too late. The impact hit him hard. He hadn't managed to nullify the oncoming force, but some of it deflected, only shoving him back into the crumbling remains of the wall again rather than tearing him apart. The gashes sliced into him by flying stone shards healed almost instantly. Against his back, the building shuddered.

Fuuma wondered if Kamui even knew what he was doing, if he was aware of the rings of debris he stood wrapped in, curled weightlessly in the air—if he knew what an incredibly intimidating image he made. By the suffocatingly thick fury that still saturated the place, reflected in those amethyst eyes, he thought not.

Staring into that blind wrath, Fuuma had to admit that things were more complicated than he'd initially figured. Definitely more complicated…

* * *

Subaru's feet stumbled, missed a step, before he was jerked roughly forward again. The world spun dizzily, the blood running down his cheek slick and wet, splattering on the floor. He tried numbly to keep up, but it wasn't any use. He couldn't keep his feet under him. He stumbled again, struggling to discern height and distance in a world that had gone planar and flat. For a few steps he was dragged, feet sliding on the floor.

There was a calm, detached voice somewhere taking stock of the situation, noting with clinical indifference that the numbness was probably shock, telling him that this woman wanted to kill him. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why that should matter…

Seishirou… Seishirou had been trapped in that cell when everything exploded. Not to mention Kamui… All that rubble… All that falling debris… Burying them. They were probably squished.

The thought made him cry out, a sort of muffled wail.

And that same calm voice noted distantly that maybe the numbness wasn't completely shock…

He tripped again… and was dragged back upright. He didn't like this woman who was taking him away from Seishirou. He wanted to be with Seishirou. It was almost a whine. He wanted to be with _Seishirou! _

Then, suddenly, maybe having gotten tired of hauling him, Seishirou's mother slammed him unceremoniously into a wall. The impact ached along the set of his shoulders, reverberated along the line of his spine, the back of his head.

"Why you?" she demanded, slamming him backward again for emphasis. "Why does he love _you?!_" Subaru didn't know the answer to that. The question didn't make any sense. Or, at least, Subaru had never thought about it much before. Seishirou had been around for so long, had become such a certainty in his life, Subaru had started to take that constant presence for granted. It had never occurred to him to wonder _why _Seishirou was always around… And now this woman, Seishirou's mother, seemed to think the man… cared about him. The idea was startling. He wasn't sure he believed it, but he didn't bother to point out that Seishirou had never actually said as much.

Funnier still, why was there a small part of him that hoped she was right? And since when had what Seishirou thought of him started mattering?

He didn't want Seishirou to be dead. He _really _didn't want Seishirou to be dead.

With the woman (Setsuka, Seishirou had called her) still grasping him brutally by the throat, Subaru knew he couldn't let her kill him. Not now. He had to protect Seishirou…

It was inside him, the answer. The thing he needed. It was a memory his nerve-endings knew, a memory he could feel in the spreading of his fingers and the curling of his toes. It poured out of him, unfurling further and further on all sides, until it stood, vast and immovable, encompassing not only the building but the entire city block. _Safety_. That's what it was. Protection. That was its name.

Kekkai.

* * *

Seishirou paused as it swallowed him, enveloping the world. With a sharp jerk of his head, he stared upward, astonished, as if he could see the end of the kekkai miles above even through the stone ceiling. It was a work of art, really. Beautifully constructed. He could tell by the way the peculiar calm cluttered up in the corners, cutting out the clamor that was his customary companion. Even in usual silence, there was noise—that background static of hearts beating and soft breathing and things settling, sighing, crying… Living sounds. Sounds that said he wasn't alone. But in a kekkai all those unnecessary breathing things were cut out.

The sound of _nothing_… like the sound of death... That was the sound of a perfect kekkai.

And Subaru's _was _perfect.

Seishirou rather liked it.

The floor shook suddenly, causing bits of dust and stone to rain down on him, and as he fought to keep his footing he came to the rather unpleasant conclusion that Subaru had decided Kamui and Fuuma were important enough to be dragged into it too. Hopefully the boy had thought to pull in the rest of the hunters as well. Trapping them all inside a kekkai would be a great way to eradicate all those pesky loose ends.

But more importantly, Seishirou thought as he followed the scent of Subaru's blood down the hallway, as long as the kekkai stood he was assured the boy was still alive. Not to mention, it would prevent Setsuka from getting away. She'd have to fight him now.

_Good boy, Subaru-kun… But now you've put yourself between her and the exit. _

Urgency hastened his steps. He rounded a corner, staggering again briefly as the floor practically buckled under him. Honestly, what were those two _doing_? He was moving again even before the shaking had stopped, traversing the length of the short hallway in seconds, rounding another corner… and finally, finally there they were, Setsuka's ebony hair coiling dangerously at her feet as she held Subaru pinned before her. She jerked toward him sharply as she caught sight of him, turning to face the new threat, keeping one hand on Subaru, attention torn between them. Swift darkness swept her up as she watched him approach, darkness to swallow the hallway and the world.

Seishirou met it head on, rushing to greet it even as it swept away the stone under his soles and the world remade itself around him, twisting into a thin beam, dropping away to either side. Bits of the beam crumbled beneath his feet, falling to the blue glow of water below with a sharp hiss. He glanced down at that, taking in the labyrinthine network of struts and supports and hissing liquid that made up the room all in one sweeping stride. A dangerous battleground. Setsuka stood with Subaru on a ledge along the far side. There wasn't a way to reach her. None of the beams connected close enough.

So he _made _one.

The maboroshi formed, a flow and flux of Power, sweeping out to tangle with hers, extending into the empty spaces, filling in the gaps like sand pouring between pebbles. He stepped out into the air between them, purposefully… and touched down onto a beam that rippled into existence under his feet a split second before he could fall through. A single step. A _new_ step in an old game his body still remembered how to play. He smiled pleasantly up at Setsuka.

"I have to ask you to return the boy." She couldn't hope to fight while holding onto him after all. But then, it would be difficult to attack…

"To the victor…" she smiled dangerously, "go the _spoils!_" She flung Subaru away from her, out over the edge and the empty air, with nothing but the boiling blue water below. The flash of a single, startled emerald eye, then he plummeted downward—a falling star that would wink out far below. Seishirou registered Setsuka's hands coming together in the same instant as he registered the boy, and making his choice, he jumped, throwing himself down after that fading form far below. The spell hissed over him as he did, the crackle of displaced air, razor-blade sharp, slicing through struts and beams above him. Falling down after them.

Seishirou concentrated on the water first, pulling the illusion up into safe purchase through the hissing blue below. But before he could do anything about the impact, a soft string of syllables suddenly surrounded him—Subaru, singing the spell—and the air swirled wildly, softening the fall. Seishirou spared only a second to be surprised by the boy's quick thinking (despite what was surely oncoming shock and visual disorientation), already working to shield them, swallow them up into the very air, hiding Subaru from prying, wanton eyes. But even then, even then there was no time to stop, no time to check on the boy.

One of the broken struts crashed into the water. Then it was raining—raining bits and pieces of sharp, strong steel, raining acid. Seishirou jumped, hopping from beam to beam to avoid the falling debris, trusting that Subaru would be safe where he'd left him, well hidden and out of the way. In a world of shifting support and crumbling footfalls, he couldn't afford to hold still. But he wasn't expecting the boy to follow him…

Subaru hopped to one of the higher beams, away from that sickly blue glow and turned to watch Seishirou above him as best he could. It was difficult with his field of vision impaired and the right side of his head throbbing red and black, but now that he wasn't being dragged around, it was easier to compensate for the loss. Easier to find the point past the pain. It even seemed to be getting minutely better. Closing the other eye briefly, he listened to the little sounds of crumbling stone and creaking metal, a world etched in material resonance—felt the grip of the beam beneath his feet. Surety filled him, strangely buoyant. He could do this. He had been _trained _to do this.

Above him, where Seishirou was, now clearly visible, the water in the air condensed, solidified, refracting rainbows briefly through shimmering shards—a thousand glittering glass fragments sending slivers of light skittering to the far corners of the room as they sliced downward on the woman standing along the far wall. It took all of a second. Setsuka raised an eyebrow and the ice shattered in the air—exploded the same distance in every direction as though the space surrounding her was a solid, tangible thing. It was only as so much crushed crystal tinkled down that the sparkling dust briefly outlined a spherical barrier. The rainbows winked out of existence. Before the shards could settle, Setsuka brought her hands together and thin streams shot out of the ice melt in a rain of silver needles. Seishirou shielded, holding his ground on the beam, but there was nothing he could do about the ones that pelted into the supports on either side. The metal broke with a protesting shriek and the beam started to fall away, forcing Seishirou to leap backward, twisting the world into footholds beneath him like stepping stones thrown across a river. He swept his hand out in a swift horizontal strike as he leapt, and amplified across the distance, the force of it slammed into the solid stone supporting the shelf Setsuka stood on. It crumbled.

Down below, Subaru watched the fight, a keen and painful sort of panic pinching tight in his chest. The thought of losing Seishirou was a void yawning before him—a nothingness that threatened to swallow all sense of self and sanity. There was no hope in the thought. Without Seishirou, everything would be darkness. Endlessly. Feeling himself standing on the brink of that chasm, the smallest step able to send him to safety or swift annihilation, he reached out to the nearest strut for support, clinging with trembling hands to anything that could ground him.

It didn't make any sense. The two of them. Fighting. Hadn't Seishirou called her mother? And yet, there was no love in the lethal spells launched like lightning between the pair. It was a death game, fueled by pain and possession. What sort of mother tried to kill her own son? The thought brought a strange, sickly sort of heat washing over him. Fury, he realized, startled. If only she had been happy hurting _him_. He would have taken the punishment. But he wouldn't let her hurt Seishirou. He _couldn't _let her hurt Seishirou. No matter the cost.

The thought was oddly freeing.

But he was jerked out of his thoughts as Setsuka was forced to abandon the crumbling ledge, jumping to the precarious balance of the beams instead. Her feet caught and held the tricky footing easily, landing with perfect poise. She spun as Seishirou leaped down to meet her on a parallel perch, the space between them narrowing to nothing. Crossed arms blocked the brunt of the kick that came down with him. And for a second the fight was physical.

"That boy!" Setsuka ducked under the next blow, using her slighter frame to come up inside his guard. But her reach was shorter. Fingertips scored skin diagonally across his chest before he could block her. "You changed him. You gave him our blood! Is he so precious to you that you'd turn your back on your own family?"

"Blood has nothing to do with this." Seishirou faced her squarely, careful to keep to the parts of the illusion he controlled. "Give up, Okaa-san. Our game ended long ago."

"This is his doing. I won't lose to a child!" Her gaze flickered down straight to the place where Subaru was standing, and with a lurch, Seishirou realized the flaw. The only unpredictable factor. Of course, he knew which beams to stick to—could feel the myriad pieces of his maboroshi spun out around him.

But Subaru couldn't.

He could wrap the boy in invisibility all he wanted, but he couldn't tell him what not to touch. Subaru had gripped one of the struts with the fingers of a single hand—a strut that was part of Setsuka's original illusion.

Even as this realization was dawning, Setsuka pushed away from him, flipping elegantly hand over heels before throwing herself into the air, plummeting in a cascade of black, silk hair. A second behind, Seishirou threw himself after her, already knowing he wouldn't make it before her. Not before it was too late. Subaru had been injured. He couldn't defend himself. Not from Setsuka. He would be defenseless…

And the thought cut off with a snap as Subaru spun to meet her in the air, foot connecting solidly with her side.

From the second's look of pure shock across her face, Setsuka hadn't expected it either.

The force slammed her backward into the strut behind with a horrible crack. Then Seishirou was there, landing neatly alongside the boy, blocking the vicious strike that was aimed for his heart. Restricted in that small space, Setsuka leaped to a parallel beam, hands weaving intricate patterns before her. When Seishirou tried to go after her, he ran straight into the hard shimmer of a barrier. Cut off. Setsuka turned again on Subaru, the threat.

"You're the one who took Seishirou from me!" Her words were punctuated with magic.

"Do you love him?" Subaru asked her, reflecting the spell she shot at him and forcing her to jump back further. He followed, leap lithe and graceful, landing perfectly.

"He's my son!"

Seishirou pulled his arm back, threads of sorcery flickering along the length of his fingertips, before slamming it through the barrier. More spells flashed between Setsuka and Subaru, bright and brilliant and executed with breathless grace. Setsuka swept a swift kick at the boy, who spun around the strut behind him so that her leg connected with it instead. There was something wrong with the way Subaru was fighting, an elusive something that Seishirou couldn't quite grasp, sliding away in silvery streams through the fingers of his mind. It was too… reckless. And the thought finally caught and held: Subaru would never hurt anyone, but there was no restraint in his spells, no forgiveness.

But there was no time for further thought on the matter. While Setsuka was distracted with Subaru, Seishirou swept easily into another spell, the syllables solid and steady. A sheen of sorcery gathered itself around the words, licking along his skin, lying thick and heavy on his tongue. The weaving was intricate and tricky—a thousand different threads to keep track of in his head. Even with the speed of proficiency…

Setsuka stilled with startled recognition, turned toward the threat…

Not enough time. Seishirou held it till the last second, but he felt the threads dropping from his hold as he was forced to defend against her attack.

Neither of them expected Subaru to pick those threads up.

Subaru didn't expect it either. It was just… that moment when Setsuka turned and went after Seishirou, the world went worrisomely blank, then he was gathering in the fluttering strands of magic, keeping them from fading. Perfectly maintaining Seishirou's speed and power, as though they'd been working in tandem all along, Subaru flung the syllables into the air. There was a crackle as the remaining threads were spun with diametrically opposing power. A cloud of gathering static electricity. The promise of lightning.

Seishirou had about a second to see it coming and think it was not going to be good—and from the look on Setsuka's face, she did too. Then they were both scrambling out of the way.

The air around Subaru vibrated and thrummed, like wire in a windstorm. There was no time to stop it. Seishirou had just long enough to drop down to a lower level as Subaru's stark voice called out the last syllable of the spell, unleashing all that built up energy on the world.

If it was lightning, it was _sheet _lightning, black as night striking the sky. It whipped out with a snap like thunder, shattering every support on that level and punching through Setsuka's quickly erected kekkai. For the second following there was a disorienting silence, a void of sound. Seishirou stood staring upward, watching the upper beams come crashing down in perfect silence as though it were a dream. It wasn't until the first one crashed into the blue pool beside him, splattering him with burning water droplets, that he shook off the shock. And suddenly all the sound that had been sucked out came rushing back in deafening clangs and clatters as metal struck metal and toppled downward. Seishirou lunged out of the way just in time, leaping through the falling debris, concentrating completely just to keep from getting clobbered. The world narrowed to a deadly game of evasion, leaving no time to look for the others. It wasn't until the last of the heavy, metal rain clanged to a spectacular splash below that he was free to take in his surroundings. Subaru was the one he noticed first, a spot of white above him where the beams abruptly ended. He was clinging to the stub of one of the shattered supports, left arm dripping tiny drops of blood. Had he been hit by falling debris? Seishirou started up to him, reaching out to twist his maboroshi one last time as he realized who was missing in all the aftermath.

Coiled in invisibility, Setsuka pushed aside the rubble pinning her down. When she lifted her hand to her mouth, she tasted blood. Injured. But it had only been a spell. It was already healing. Still, that stupid little brat had injured her! It was infuriating. If she could just get the boy… If she could get the boy, it'd all be over. Seishirou would get over it. He'd come back to her. It was the boy she had to get rid of.

Slowly, she took stock of her surroundings: Seishirou, above her. But where was the… The boy, there, springing lightly from beam to beam up toward her. Perfect.

She caught him mid-leap. It was easy, wrapped in invisibility as she was, only releasing it once he was in her grip. There was no way he'd seen her coming. A little hiss of surprise escaped him as she brought him down. Very pleasing. And oh those pretty green eyes… she was the last thing they were going to see.

* * *

Kamui stretched one hand out in Fuuma's direction—the hand that had been broken, Fuuma noted—looking for all the world like a little god made mortal. A god of destruction, he mused, as the world between them quaked and crumbled under the pressure and he was forced to get out of the way. A little sluggishly. Turning the boy had taken its toll, and it would take awhile to compensate for the blood loss.

If _he_ was feeling tired though, Kamui should have been exhausted. Draining the boy's body of so much blood alone should have wiped him out. Not to mention the physical toll of enduring the brunt of the change. There was no way he should have been standing.

_Stubborn boy. Your body will break under the strain long before your mind does. _

On the other hand, Fuuma considered, he just might be able to use that to his advantage. If he could tire the boy further…

Of course, that meant not exhausting himself in the process.

The ground trembled. Kamui, lashing out at him with that almighty Power again. The wind whipped viciously around the boy, gathering and churning in his hands, exploding into violent light. Fissures ripped open in the stone beneath him.

Fuuma could feel it, the same force gathering near Kamui—could feel it along his arms, licking at his skin… in the friction at his fingertips. He held his ground.

Kamui raised his arms over his head, all deadly grace, as though to call down lightning from the sky, and the dangerous distortion forming between his palms expanded. Fuuma saw it coming—raised his own arms, out wide, as if to block the blow. As if he _could_ block that blow. There was an echo of it inside him again—the boy's blood reacting to the threat. Then all that fire he could feel burning through him focused down to his fingers, in the palms of his hands. The forces collided, the resulting explosion taking out most of one wall and collapsing chunks of the ceiling. Fuuma stood unmoved, ignoring the rock raining down all around him, attention held solely by the boy he could just see through the clouds of dust and debris.

"Kamui!" Fuuma called, trying to break through more than just the cracking of rock and distance between them. "If you keep this up, you'll bury your brother under all the rubble. You care about him, don't you?" The words cracked the blank amethyst of those eyes, and a wordless snarl briefly distorted that pretty face.

"Don't you dare talk to _me_ about protecting Subaru!"

Fuuma blocked the blow that followed. He'd expected it, but even forewarned, the savage fury of it still managed to shove him backward several feet before he could stop it. Good, he thought, now they were getting somewhere. A smug smile caught the corners of his mouth.

He straightened, standing unyielding, facing down the boy across from him and armed now with the knowledge of what had to be done and how to drive through that mask. After all, he had already made up his mind.

_I'm not letting you go, Kamui. Even if I have to break you until you come to your senses. _

"Subaru-kun, hm?" he chuckled. "I wondered what his name was… when I tore him open." Another flash from amethyst eyes.

"Shut up."

"He was very polite, you know," Fuuma went on, ignoring him. "He didn't fight back at all." The calm, clear center of the storm that surrounded the boy rippled. Turbulent air slapped strands of black hair across his face and plastered his shirt to his shoulders. He was losing that unruffled, detached control.

"Stop it! Shut _up_!"

Fuuma countered _that _attack too, though even prepared the force rocked him backward again. But even the wind was breaking up now, the debris in the air all plummeting downward. And finally, Kamui's feet scraped the ground as he staggered, catching himself on a larger chunk of stone. Fuuma could see it now, the fine trembling that shook the boy's limbs, how he fought to stay on his feet. Ebony hair obscured his face.

"Kamui…" Fuuma started toward that pitiful figure.

"Don't." The voice was a growl, crystal scraped along stone, and Fuuma stopped, pinned in place by vibrant amethyst eyes suddenly lifted to meet his, by the _determination _in those eyes. Staring down that terrible resolve, he had a second to realize how badly he'd miscalculated. Only a second. Then trembling hands steadied all at once, Kamui slashing at him with that blinding Power, and Fuuma felt it slice into him. There was no time to avoid it, he was too close. It ripped horizontally across his abdomen and both arms, carrying him crashing back into what remained of the far wall again, the impact sending a scalding wave of pain shooting through him, the feel of bones breaking. Then the wall crumbled, unable to take the stress, and the whole thing crashed down on him.

He had miscalculated. When his head cleared enough to take stock of his surroundings, the realization was annoying. He had assumed the boy would have to recognize the limits of his body. He had been wrong.

But first things first. Choking on dust, he shifted against the confinement of rock, hissing when something in his shoulder burned as if branded. It really was broken then. But that at least would heal. It was the deep gash across his abdomen that was draining him of strength. Kamui wasn't the only one whose body could only be pushed so far. Frowning, he closed his eyes, focusing, and the rocks rattled as the fire singing in his blood gathered, finally exploding outward, freeing him from his stone prison. Clean air rushed into his lungs.

Exhaustion dragged at him as he pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dust off. Movement caught his eye, and he looked up, meeting Kamui's eyes. For a second, they stared at each other. Then Kamui started toward him, and Fuuma braced himself. Watching the boy traipse toward him in those few seconds, wondering where he found the will to continue with his body so thoroughly used up—it would have been mesmerizing if there weren't a good possibility it was going to kill him.

For a second Fuuma saw it coming and could only wait.

Then an unexpected streak of white flashed out, startling him. Of course, there was no way they could have gone undetected. Not with all the noise they were making and certainly not with all the destruction, half the walls collapsed. There was no way anyone could _not _have noticed them. But somehow it was still surprising when the pale-haired hunter, the one with the three-diamond mark on his forehead, appeared from behind the rubble by the door—what was left of the door—white cloth whipping out to wrap around Kamui's arm, pulling tight. Maybe he just hadn't expected anyone to be _stupid _enough to get involved.

Kamui fought the restraint at first, twisting his arm awkwardly behind him and trying to shake it off. Focused on Fuuma. But the cloth didn't break, only stretched taut. It had to be painful, the angle his arm was twisted at, bent back as it was. Finally Kamui seemed to notice too, furious amethyst eyes snapping back to see what had him caught. The next second the boy had turned on the hunter.

Fuuma took a moment to think maybe the distraction had been fortuitous after all.

That lightning-kiss crackled through the air again, and the hunter jumped back to the top of a pile of rubble just in time for it to crumble beneath him, wiped out with a dizzying flash of Power. Kamui didn't wait for the other boy to regain his footing, attacking again with a merciless fury. And again. He lashed out, all blind wrath. There was no time between the blows. But no aim either. He wiped out anything and everything in his path, whiting out the world. It forced the hunter back further and further, Kamui driving him until there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.

Hell was cold and unforgiving and a little over five feet tall.

There was something wrong with his arms though. They were shaking, burning. Even the fury that had turned his blood to molten fire could only push the limits of his body so far. Kamui could feel it, that fine tremor of fatigue licking at his limbs. He wanted to collapse—fought it fiercely instead. The pain helped keep him on his feet.

That white cloth snapped out again, threading around him, _binding_ him. Kamui snarled at the unexpected attack, struggling against the quickly tightening fabric until, forcing muscles to move past their breaking point, he tore his arm free. The hunter's eyes widened. Close. They were so close now.

"What _are_ you?"

Then something changed, something broke. They were too close. The hand Kamui had half raised snatched outward to grasp at the hunter's shirt, and whatever he'd been intending to do, suddenly his teeth snapped closed around the other boy's throat. The blood that welled up into his mouth was startling, but he was swallowing even before he realized what it was, swallowing with instinctual desperation. That seemed to make things better somehow. The hunter struggled, trying to tear free, but Kamui's grip on the column of his neck was unbreakable. Crushing. For a moment everything else melted away. Background noise: the hunter's pointless and weakening struggles, the knowledge of Fuuma somewhere behind him, the revelation over his brother's near demise. The pain faded too, and Kamui wondered at it, surprised. Was that what had been causing it?

He clung to the hunter, clung to that dizzying relief, even after the body had long since ceased moving, stilled by death.

Then someone was pulling him away, hands wrapping around his wrists and tugging at his waist, jerking him out of that pleasant daze. Kamui fought them, refusing to let go, struggling to get free, especially when he realized who it was.

"Let go of me!" he shrieked, thrashing in the man's grip, shoving at that broad chest with shaking arms. "Don't touch me!" But the fury had melted away, leaving only a faint pain and the irrationality of exhaustion, everything coming crashing down at once. Fuuma ignored him.

"You need to sleep, Kamui. Your body's still adjusting to the changes."

Kamui's hands curled into claws. "I hate you!" he cried, choked. Because even if it didn't matter anymore, it still hurt to know he'd been betrayed—hurt worse than it should have. "I hate you!" Because he knew better than to trust the man in the first place.

Because unlike Subaru, he could lie.

He wanted to push Fuuma away—was too upset to stand to be touched by him—but he didn't even have the ability to do that. There wasn't enough strength left in shaking arms to be effective. And anyway, the man was pulling him further into his embrace, wrapping warm arms around his shivering body, all with a surprising gentleness.

"I know," Fuuma replied, running his fingers through damp strands of dark hair soothingly. "I know." Kamui struggled to stay awake, clinging to consciousness with everything he had, but the man was drawing him down, one hand curled supportively behind his head, exerting the lightest pressure to rest him against a firm shoulder, and there really was no resistance left in him. Just a vast emptiness. "It's alright now. Rest. You don't have to stay awake any longer." Kamui wanted to tell him that wasn't true, it wasn't alright. He didn't want to sleep. But everything felt numb, inside and out, and his body was a traitor, curling into the man's warmth, away from the stone-cold air. Then his eyelids were falling shut, and he couldn't find the strength to move anymore. And the darkness felt good.

* * *

Pulling her arm back in what would be one last, brutal strike, Setsuka snarled triumphantly up at Seishirou. She had won. Once the boy was dead, there'd be no more reason to fight. There'd be nothing between them anymore. But Seishirou was staring at her as though startled. There was blood dripping down his arm. Something about that stopped her briefly. That look. It was the look of the world being wrong. But no, _no_. She wouldn't be thwarted. She had _won_. She wouldn't be thwarted _now_.

"You can't have him!" But even the chiming of her voice held a note of desperation. She felt cornered somehow, something about the accusation in the amber eyes above. A low chuckle startled her.

"You should be more careful…" The boy, in her arms, emerald eyes flat over that familiar smile. "Okaa-san." The hand that slammed through her chest was unexpected. She gasped, choked, stared at him in shock.

"When?" she whispered, blood painting her lips. Subaru just stared at her, waiting for her grip to loosen—a Subaru whose eyes were amber. Seishirou. It was Seishirou with her now, Seishirou's hand inside her. That was alright, wasn't it? If Seishirou was with her…

She smiled—the most beautiful smile… "You've grown up."

And died.

Her body crumpled to the floor at his feet and slowly dissolved into petals, leaving Seishirou unsure whether he'd hit her… or just another one of her bloody illusions.

There was a small displaced air sound as Subaru landed beside him, putting those necessary few feet of polite distance between them.

That was the thing about Setsuka, Seishirou mused as he pulled a startled Subaru into his arms, still staring warily at the floor where the body had been. One could chase after the illusion of her forever and be just as unsure about the reality, whether it be after ten years or a thousand. Not Subaru. Subaru was exactly what he appeared to be. The fine black hair between his fingers was genuine, the thin body pressed to his was real. He could hold that body in his arms, assured it wouldn't suddenly fall into petals or dissolve into drab daylight when morning came. Reality, he thought, brushing the fine hair at the nape of the boy's neck.

Reality was a thing to be treasured.

Subaru curled into his arms, a gratifying warmth in the illusion's chill, and more… more forward than he expected of the boy. A tiny thread of worry niggled at him, a distant, discordant note in the boy's behavior. _Damaged_, the idea flitted unpleasantly through his thoughts. Twisting fingers around a sharp chin, he jerked that pale, blood-coated face up to meet his. The boy was _covered _in it now that he had a good chance to look at him, flecks of dried blood sticking strands of his hair together and thin shirt stuck to his shoulder where he'd been cut by debris and his face… There was blood dried in his eyebrows and splashed across his nose, but the worst was the vicious red smear streaking the right cheek under the crushed emerald eye. And yet… somehow it didn't look as bad as he'd initially thought. Was it healing? If it was, it was too slow…

Annoyed suddenly by the blood crusting that eye eternally shut, he scraped the nail of one thumb along the underside of the eyebrow, flicking away little bits of it.

Subaru flinched away at first before turning into that touch, pushing his face up into the man's palm. It didn't bother him, the warm hand there where he couldn't see. But he could feel… The scrape of a nail again, this time prying a bit of blood from the curve of one ear. A pleasant shudder shook him at the touch.

It was nice… not just that attention.

He had come. Seishirou had come for him. The thought was startling, thrilling. Setsuka's words echoed in his head, nagging at him. _Why does he love _you?!

It didn't make any sense. Surely Seishirou didn't… After all, Subaru thought, he was clumsy, and a bother, and certainly not worth anyone's trouble. And if Seishirou had come after him, well that just proved it, didn't it? The man had had to pull him out of trouble… again. But the thought nagged at him: it had been Seishirou's _mother _who had said it. Surely she'd know him better than anyone. So maybe, just maybe she had been right… It certainly made sense of _why _the man would come after him. Subaru stared at Seishirou, blinking in startled wonder at the idea.

"What?" Seishirou asked, disconcerted by that unwavering emerald eye staring up at him. Subaru smiled in response—a beautiful smile that lit up his whole face.

"I love you too," Subaru replied, throwing arms around the man's middle and hugging him affectionately. Seishirou froze, surprised and suddenly… worried. More than before.

"Subaru-kun… are you feeling alright?" Seishirou stared down at him, trying to penetrate that blithe smile, but there was no falter there, and before he could inquire further about such strange behavior there was sudden movement behind them. The rest of the illusion had dissolved while he'd been focused on the boy. He whirled, only to find Fuuma carrying Kamui, the younger one unconsciously slumped in the other's arms. For a second they watched each other warily. Then thrusting Subaru behind him, Seishirou started across the distance between them, clipped steps threatening.

Fuuma's hold tightened on Kamui protectively, and despite the terrible weight of exhaustion, he pulled at the dredges of the energy he'd unwittingly stolen. The air crackled between them warningly. Seishirou halted, stopping on the brink of that terrible force, feeling it press against his skin. Dragging in a breath, it burned through his lungs. Dangerous.

"So that's the boy's Power." Eyes met cold, uncompromising eyes. For a few minutes neither moved.

Then Subaru ducked under Seishirou's protective arm and swept across the distance before anyone could stop him. Fuuma let the boy approach, letting that fizzle of Power fade away before the apparition of a blood-streaked face. Something about that soft smile crinkling that ruined façade just drained the tension out of him. He could _feel_ the strain in his shoulders release as the boy drew closer. Subaru just had that effect. And then he was there, pausing to examine his brother with one wide, emerald eye. Fuuma carefully tilted the body in his arms when Subaru's fingers curled in Kamui's sleeve, silently asking to see him. After all, it wasn't Subaru he was worried about… Fuuma was distinctly aware of the amber eyes watching with unwavering intensity, following his every move.

When Subaru nodded in satisfaction, he relaxed further, feeling as though he'd passed some sort of test.

"Thank you for keeping him safe." Subaru smiled, and before anyone could react, he reached up and kissed him soundly on the cheek, while Fuuma tried not to drop Kamui in shock. The next second, Seishirou had dragged Subaru away, snagging an arm around his waist protectively.

"No, Subaru-kun! We don't kiss people in public!" Those amber eyes were back to boring holes in him, and Fuuma had the feeling that if the man wasn't going to kill him before, he certainly was now. But luckily Seishirou had to keep his arm around the boy to restrain him, and that was definitely inhibiting any threat he presented.

Subaru blinked quizzically at the reprimand, as though seeing nothing wrong with this. The man's grip tightened when he tried to shift a bit so he could see. Tightened painfully, bar-like arms keeping him firmly imprisoned. Clearly there would be no escape a second time. But escape wasn't what he wanted. He squirmed as much as he could trapped as he was, twisting to look up, to catch that amber-eyed warning directed over his head. An hour ago he wouldn't have understood it. Maybe he still didn't. Seishirou's motives had never made the best sense where he was concerned, but suddenly it wasn't so confusing as it was reassuring. More than any ill-conceived kindness had ever been. He smiled at the man and stretched up on his toes to kiss along the line of the jaw above him. "Thank you too."

"Subaru-kun!" Startled, Seishirou turned to look down at him, piercing amber eyes staring into _him _now. Quizzical. Curious.

There was no denying it. There was definitely something wrong with Subaru… But, Seishirou decided as the boy's fingers traced his mouth far from as tentatively as they should have, he fully intended to enjoy it for as long as it lasted…

Fuuma took advantage of the man's distraction to get around them. He was pretty sure he hadn't seen the last of Seishirou—the man had far from let them go—but at the moment there was an exhausted air about all of them, an ache he could feel all the way to his bones, that seemed to call for a truce. At least for the night. He smirked ruefully as he carried Kamui home, taken suddenly by the irony of the scene behind them.

"Kamui, I think your brother's going to be just fine…"

* * *

**Author Note:** I know this is a month late, and I'm sorry. But there's no way I could have foreseen this thing getting 8 THOUSAND words long! It was like it never ended! And I feel sort of justified, seeing as how this is two to three times longer than usual and I got two other stories up in the mean time. Also, does anyone know what form of martial arts Sei and Su practice? I only know Tai Chi, and I started laughing every time I thought of one of them calling out Seven Stars! White Crane! Embrace the Tiger! It just wasn't working for me. XD Anyway, I have no idea what would happen if two maboroshi were created over top of each other, nor if spells 'can' be started by one person and finished by another. I had to guess on so much of this chapter it isn't funny. Gah, I hate writing fights! Am I getting better at them or worse?

Note, damage to the right frontal lobe part of the brain can result in so many different functional problems, it isn't funny, so I narrowed it down to one that sounded fun: lack of restraint.

Also, I missed someone last chapter. Luna Moonserf also guessed that Setsuka was responsible several chapters ago. Sorry about that.

Finally, I apologize. One of my Japanese Major friends finally clued me in that children NEVER call their parents by first name. It is just not done. I thought family members would be close enough to use first names, but no. So I apologize if I offended anyone, but I hate to go back and change that last chapter now, because it sounds strange being formal in such a situation. Like when someone is about to be run over, you don't shout "Excuse me ma'am, I hate to bother you, but you're about to die!" So does anyone know if it works the other way? Like would Setsuka never call him outright Seishirou? Gah, I should never have gotten myself into this Japanese name thing… I should have kept it strictly English…

Just one chapter left. I want this thing done. There are too many incomplete fics in the world as it is. I haven't forgotten about the seal, I promise, there just wasn't room to get it into this chapter. Not to mention I need Kamui awake.

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** I admit I was surprised when you didn't review, particularly on the chapter when getting reviews was actually important, and if I'd gotten 15 reviews, I might have pestered you about giving them the 16th so they could get a new chapter, but that never happened. Unfortunately, I'm going to make you wait till ch. 14 for the final conclusion in the eye saga. :D Well, I can't say her death was slow, but at least Subaru got in a few good kicks? ^^,

**Shinken16:** Oh gosh. *bursts out laughing* Points for the most hilarious, best review ever! I read it like 5 times… then I read it to my mother. (I was home at the time) That was great. I still go back and read it. XD And of course, right after you say how you appreciate my updating on time, I update a MONTH late (there was no way I could have anticipated it getting this long though). Actually, I like Satsuki better than Yuzuriha too (why she had the bigger part), but in the end I'd set her up as an antagonist. At the very least Yuzuriha has been relegated to one real scene and a mention next chapter of what happened to her. XD I'm afraid I probably haven't lived up to your expectations of the Sei/Sets fight. Fight scenes are not my forte. *winces* Unfortunately, Kamui's not going to PWN totally, because I believe in balance and because Kamui's body can't take the strain right now, otherwise I do believe Fuuma would have lost. And yes, I was rather disappointed when TRC ended without at least a mention of our favorite vampire twins! T_T

**LeiCross:** I even make my clues hard to decipher, huh? Now that you've seen the chapter, I can tell you, when I said one of JJ's guesses was correct but that it was a trick, I meant that she had guessed right, yes, but six months ago. XD And the clue in the post was the chapter title The Illusion, because there are only two characters who can create illusions. And yes, I am pretty fond of hurting my characters. ^^, I was telling Schnick earlier that I just realized I'd now punched three holes in Subaru and broken Kamui's bones three times. Apparently I have unique torture devices for each character. (My mind is twisted) I admit it would be a delicate matter to pull off Subaru as the Twin Star, but with Subaru as the twin in this fic, it just seems so perfectly set up for it (too bad I never intended to go into the End of the World arc). Plus, that would assure that Sei gets dragged in too. If it's just Fu and Kam, Sei wouldn't pay it any attention.

**Nekoi: **I 'have' thought that this story could keep going into another arc with the Dragons of Heaven, but I realized that putting the ending off only means another chance the story won't get finished at all, ever, and I really want to be able to finish this! There are too many unfinished fics. If I do decide to pick up that possible second arc, I'll do it as a sequel. ^_^ You will find out about the seal, yes, just uh, next chapter. I couldn't find time to explain it in this one.

**angel-kamui:** Truthfully Setsuka really isn't in Tokyo Babylon. She's such a minor character, we really don't know much about her. Made it hard to know whether I was characterizing her right. Though I've heard a couple people say she sounds a little off her rocker in one of the doujinshis(?) I think it was. I've always wondered what she'd do if she met Subaru, and in this fic I finally had a chance to explore that possibility. ^_^ Considering how many character names I've seen around, I'm a little surprised I haven't managed to get a single Sei or Su. *pouts* (Shinken's review made me laugh too. XD That was priceless...)

**Zuzanny:** *grin* I think Subaru will be okay. You'll find out for sure whether he'll be able to see again next chapter. ^_~ As for the pleasure/pain thing. Deary me, I admit I did a double take and confused 'myself' there for a sec, and if I had this to rewrite, I think I'd definitely simplify that aspect. Subaru felt pleasure because she 'wanted' him to--she could just have easily made it painful--but the important part is that Setsuka wasn't bleeding to death and was in control. Earlier, in ch. 4, Sei had lost a lot of blood and he lost focus for a few minutes when Subaru unexpectedly pulled him closer. Here's where it gets more confusing: Subaru is the exception. He doesn't know it, amusingly enough, but he's just not 'capable' of hurting people, even dazed and disoriented and half out of it. Which is why he didn't hurt Sei in 8. *contemplates whether that description made it make more or less sense*

**Luna Moonserf:** *laughs* She thought you were dropping out of school! Personally, I would have dropped out of honors Chem too. (I struggled with 'regular' chemistry. No, I took Advanced Placement English instead. XD) I don't like blaming others (unless I can say with absolute certainty it was someone else's fault), because I've seen enough people get falsely accused (I 'was' one of the ones falsely accused), so if I lose a reader, I assume I wasn't good enough to hold their attention and I need to improve. *shrug* I probably need to improve anyway. ^_~ *bursts out laughing suddenly* We sound like an anti-character rights group. "We support complete cruelty to characters!" XD I LIKE IT! I want to be a member too! Ah-hem. Anyway... Mm, I remember you guessing that Setsuka or Seishirou turned Fuuma back in ch. 5 (and that was a superb guess, btw, I admit I forgot about that at first and should have gone back to check), but that wasn't quite the same thing as pointing her out as the primary antagonist. JJ was a tad bit more direct in my LJ, but you're right. I should have counted that. I'm sorry I forgot! (Too many reviews to keep track of!) I'll add you in my author note.

I love reading what parts you say you liked best! It makes me feel all happy and exuberant. *_* I think I've gotten used to your signature now. It's like a part of you. I just sort of expect it anymore. ^^,

**Piffle Princess:** I'm glad you came back then! It seems, most often when people don't have time, they don't remember a week later. ^^, Knowing you think I did Setsuka right is a relief, because there's so little on her, I was guessing half the time. White Rain writes a beautiful Kotori—she's the one who has recently made me start appreciating Kotori's character more. Though the boys are definitely still my favorite. *laughs* Belated indeed! But no time is too late for a party! Come, we must celebrate! We shall have cake! Chocolate or vanilla?

**fan-fan31:** You seriously haven't read X? *surprised* Out of curiosity, what made you stop? No time? Not interested? Too much violence and death? (that's what made one of my friends stop) Well, I can't complain, I first ran across Kamui in TRC, so he was my first favorite too. Sei and Su just grew on me. Now I like them all in equal measure. Unfortunately, I don't feel like Kamui's scenes got any larger than before, though those two are going to be bothered by problems due to his Powers in the future after this (You'll see it next chapter).

**Lynn chan desu:** It's official. I think the Fu/Kam fans have won out. There are so many Sei/Su stories though—maybe the Fu/Kam fandom just doesn't have as many good writers? That's sort of sad. Well, Fu and Kam still have to share the spotlight in this fic with Sei and Su, but I promise they have some amusing/cute moments next chapter. ^_^ Good job guessing Fuuma was a Sakurazuka! I purposely tried to make that hard to figure out. As for Kamui turning into a vampire, well, it would have been sort of sad if Kamui had remained the only human, no? If I do a sequel, then yes, some of the other X characters will show up, probably including Hinoto (possibly Kanoe) and Kakyou. No guarantee I'll 'do' a sequel though yet. If I do, it needs a lot more planning. We'll see. It would be fun. Maybe they'll be more Kamui then. Don't worry, I don't intend to kill off anyone _important… _:D You must be foreign? That's so exciting! What's your native language? I'm honored that you went through all the work of writing in a language that's obviously difficult! ^///^

**akuma-river:** Oh, Kamui and Fuuma are definitely going to have a lot of problems after this, now that the secret is out so to speak, though I don't think this fic will go into it all. Maybe if I do a sequel I can deal with it more thoroughly. You'll see hints of it in the epilogue though. Anyway, yeah, I don't think Kamui will be so pleased to know he's related to Seishirou after all now. *grin*

**Leuv:** Thank you! Oh, so many Fu/Kam reviewers this time! Clearly those two are more popular than I gave them credit for. And yet, when I write pure Fu/Kam fics, they don't get as much interest as the Sei/Su ones. o_o

**mei wang:** The end was kind of ambiguous. I hope this chapter helped clear it up for you.

**Iscarion:** Ah, it's reviewers like you who remind me why I like posting on ff. net so much more than on LJ. There might be fewer reviewers here than comment-ers on LJ, but I'm _thrilled _by how much more detailed they usually are, often three times longer, and generally able to point out where my strengths/weaknesses are as a writer. This is very useful and encouraging. So with the exception of a few little places, my characterization isn't as off as I'd feared? *is happy* I do think the 'relationships' between the characters turned out rather well in this somehow. ^_^ I'm afraid I failed in the "update soon" area, but it's twice as long. Does that count? ^^, (Ah, I was betting Italian, but French. At least I got the right continent. XD)


	14. Afterward

**Chapter 14**

Afterward

Waking up was a disorienting thing. A clingy cobweb of dreams coated Kamui's conscious, the strands not completely dissolving after he opened his eyes—a distant echo of indistinct voices sticking with him. He had the perturbing impression he'd been able to understand them asleep, but the memory was fading and he turned his attention instead to the strange new ceiling above him. He blinked at it for a few seconds, clearing away the last vestiges of sleep, but yes, that was definitely a different ceiling.

"Finally awake?" Kamui turned, but he recognized that amused tone and already knew who he'd find. "I thought you'd sleep forever." Fuuma, lying beside him—_sprawled_ beside him on top of the blankets. Kamui was used to sleeping beside the man—Fuuma had been a frequent visitor when he'd been stuck unable to walk after all, but that had been… That was… It certainly hadn't… Flustered, Kamui struggled to find words. Well, there was something about the solid walls that made it feel closer, more intimate for one thing, and for another… Fuuma had definitely been wearing a shirt then. And that amused expression was not helping matters.

What was so funny about the situation anyway?

"What…" he trailed off, realizing suddenly that without the sheets covering him, he was wearing less than Fuuma. With an indignant protest, he tugged the blankets more firmly around himself.

"Your clothes were ruined. I had to change them." Fuuma was definitely smirking now. Kamui flushed, realizing what this would have entailed.

"You… You…" Unable to settle on a properly indignant response, he shut his mouth with a snap, glowering his annoyance instead until Fuuma pointed out a set of clothes on the nightstand. He took the pants off the pile with as much dignity as he could muster and pulled them on under the covers while Fuuma rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I haven't seen all of you before." Like that made it any better. Kamui had just picked up the top and was sliding into it when Fuuma continued, "Oh, and you're sleeping with me from now on anyway. I've already informed the servants." From somewhere under the shirt, Kamui yelped. It took him a second to untangle himself from black fabric before he could reply.

"You told them _what_?"

"Well, they had to know to stop taking your clothes upstairs." By the look on his face, Fuuma was enjoying Kamui's predicament way too much. He reached over languidly and tugged on the sleeve of the shirt the boy had just put on. "I like this on you."

Kamui started to reply, but the retort died on his tongue… The man's words were a suddenly unwelcome weight on his conscious. He'd had nothing when Fuuma found him—no home, no belongings. He'd left it all behind when he'd had to run away with Subaru. Everything he had in the world, every material thing at least, was what Fuuma had given him. For a second, he struggled with his own conflicting emotions: it didn't excuse what the man had done, and he didn't want to be grateful. But it didn't give him the right to complain about what he'd been given either… Running a hand over the fine fabric of the shirt, he felt unexpectedly ashamed.

"Thank you," Kamui said, looking away. "For the clothes." Fuuma's smirk vanished into sudden surprise.

"You're welcome."

Kamui took a deep breath. "But what was wrong with my old room?"

"Kamui…" Fuuma's earlier amusement was completely gone now, replaced by careful neutrality. "You didn't seriously think you could stay up there, did you? With all those windows letting in light?" Kamui blinked slowly while the man's intense gold gaze bored into him, watching for a reaction. He hadn't forgotten about the previous night's events, but he'd been unconsciously pushing it aside, he realized—okay, he'd _wanted _to push it aside. The familiar burn of embarrassment was easier to handle, and he'd wanted to be distracted. But some things couldn't be ignored forever. He'd known that too, but he still didn't feel ready to deal with it.

For a minute, he stared at his hands, at the porcelain skin, as though there might be some visible difference there. And now that he was paying attention, actually trying to listen, he realized it wasn't just that he'd been shutting so much of the information from his senses out, Fuuma's house really was just that quiet at night. With relief, he relaxed, letting his guard down, actually listening for once. The noises weren't gone, but they were far enough away or muffled enough to not be bothersome. Little noises: the sigh of air under a doorway somewhere, the soft sounds of steps somewhere beyond the walls, the closer creak of the mattress as Fuuma shifted. Kamui's memories of the previous night were muddled in places from all the confusing sensations drowning him, both internal and external, but he distinctly remembered the deafening roar of sounds pressing in on him, hands clutching at his ears to block it out. Comparatively, the muted noises filtering through the thick walls now were normal.

The clarity and brightness in his vision still felt a little like staring into a flame too long, but it was better than the day before too. Not so raw somehow, or just not so new.

_This is how Subaru sees now_, he thought. _Like this_. The thought was a handle—something solid to grasp hold of.

"I'm like Subaru now, then."

"You're like me," Fuuma corrected, feeling that there was an important difference in there somewhere. He didn't like the boy's brother having anything to do with it. All in all though, he was surprised; he'd been expecting a more violent reaction. And it was right about as he was thinking that, Kamui turned around and punched him. He didn't quite manage to block the hit, but it wasn't particularly painful anyway, and he did have his guard up instantly to block any ensuing attacks… only they never came.

"Hm," Kamui considered, shaking his hand. It still hurt—Fuuma was a fairly solid force—but it hadn't broken any of his fingers like it might have before. He'd gotten stronger.

Fuuma relaxed when Kamui didn't make a move to assault him again, but still watched the boy warily, unsure whether this reaction constituted acceptance or rejection and hesitant to push for clarification.

"That was for Subaru," Kamui told him when he finally looked up, answering that silence. He wasn't quite ready to forgive the man, but the shock and anger had burned low, guttering into deep weariness. Sternness seeped into amethyst eyes. "And for me." He held up his hand, gesturing to himself, showing it to Fuuma. "This. You could've asked me."

"You would have left, or died. I won't let you leave, Kamui." Fuuma sat up, gold gaze hard, uncaring how harsh the words were. "Not ever."

"I don't want to leave," Kamui replied, dismissing the notion as sheer stupidity. "Do you have any idea what it's like to watch everyone you care about avoid you because the very sight of you causes them pain? You should have asked. I would have said yes."

"You were angry," Fuuma replied skeptically.

"Well, okay, I might not have said yes right at that _moment_." Kamui rolled his eyes. "And what's this 'were' junk? I'll have you know I'm _still _angry with you!" But it was more belated indignation than true anger, and the next second he sighed. "I want to see Subaru."

"Your brother's fine."

"I want to see him."

Fuuma considered those stubborn amethyst eyes for a second. Keeping the brothers apart permanently was impossible. He had no doubt they'd find a way to see each other again. From the set of the eyes across the room, Kamui at least was determined to find a way.

"I'll let you see him when you can control yourself enough to not kill him."

Kamui snapped his teeth at that, a frustrated sound, and a sudden crackling in the air seemed to echo it. A roll of thunder. Gathering Power. Fuuma's response was instant. He whipped around, one hand connecting hard enough with the boy's chest to knock the breath out of him, and was immediately over him before he'd even finished falling, larger body pinning the smaller one to the bed.

The dissonance in the air evaporated. Kamui wasn't about to go down that easily, but there were fangs wrapped around his neck, and they tightened warningly when he started to struggle.

"First!" Fuuma's voice was sharp in the darkness, commanding, "this is my home, I don't want it destroyed. Second, you need to learn to control your temper. Third, never, _never…_" a short pause,"…expose your throat." Fuuma hovered there, letting the words sink in.

Kamui shoved at him. He could feel the man's body all the way down, an intimate awareness that made him burn uncomfortably. He shoved more urgently, but it was like shoving at a rock. Immovable. In the end, it was Fuuma who sat up, a slow uncoiling, moving off him by degrees.

"You'll see your brother when you can control yourself," he reiterated, pitiless. "Unless you want him to end up like that boy you killed last night?" Kamui abruptly went still, limbs falling back to the bed as though the strings had been cut. He turned his head away, staring at the wall. Fuuma sighed.

"It was good he died. He might have come after us had he lived." Which, instead of helping, caused Kamui to roll over completely.

"Death is never a good thing," Kamui muttered head first into the blankets. The other boy's demise was a heavy weight. He hadn't meant to kill the boy. It had been an accident—an accident he was terrified would happen again. Would he inadvertently kill the next person he bit too? He wasn't sure. And he didn't know what to do. But then a thought came to him.

"You," Kamui said, turning suddenly back to Fuuma and sitting up. "It's easy for you. You've taken my blood without killing me many times."

"Yes, but I've had more experience."

Still, Kamui was undaunted. "You didn't hurt me. You don't have to kill. Show me how!"

Fuuma blinked in the face of such earnest amethyst eyes. Then a smirk slowly stole across his lips. "Very well." Reaching out, he drew the boy closer with the press of fingers to the nape of his neck. Kamui's eyes drooped low, and Fuuma knew the boy could smell his blood now, knew the boy wanted him. His grin widened.

"Why don't we…" he suggested, "practice…"

* * *

Subaru sat up as soon as the sun released him, tried to open his eyes before he remembered he couldn't. The right one refused to open. But it burned—a sensation that had invaded his sleep prior even to waking up.

"What's wrong?" Seishirou propped himself up on an elbow, alerted by Subaru's sudden start.

"It hurts." Carefully, he rubbed a little at it with one hand, and his fingers came away covered in flecks of crusted blood.

"Let me see." Seishirou knocked the hand away and cupped the boy's face, pulling him down in order to get a better look, and examined the wound clinically for a second. "Hmm." Pushing the blankets back, he tugged Subaru to his feet. They'd both been too exhausted the previous night when they'd gotten back to do more than drop into bed, and so they were both still in dirty, rumpled, torn clothes. "This way. Follow me." Seishirou pulled Subaru down the hall and into the bathroom, where he wetted a washcloth in warm water and pressed it to the mess of Subaru's eye. After a minute, he washed it off in the sink and pressed it back against the wound again. And slowly, slowly, the blood loosened and washed away, running down the drain in rivulets of red water.

"Subaru-kun." Seishirou's voice was curious. "Try opening both eyes." Subaru did so and immediately slammed them both shut, vision a haze of red and black. It burned, but Seishirou was grinning as he let Subaru splash water into his eyes, trying to wash out the rest of the blood, and when at last the pain had faded and he looked up into the mirror, he stared, startled.

"Can you see?" Seishirou watched Subaru's expression in the mirror over his shoulder.

Subaru nodded and turned shy green eyes on him. Twin eyes. A beautiful blush crept up his cheeks under the gentle brush of a thumb feathering over the eyelid appreciatively. And as he held still under that gentle, curious touch, the previous day's events bubbled to the surface of his memory.

"Did I… Did I really kiss him?" Subaru asked, embarrassed. Seishirou's mouth thinned into a firm line and Subaru blushed in guilty mortification, moaning and trying to hide his face in his hands. What had ever possessed him…?

"Ne, Subaru-kun…" Seishirou's voice was mischievous, and Subaru peeked one eye out at him cautiously. "Do you really love me?" At that, Subaru squeaked and tried to hide again, but Seishirou wasn't about to allow that and slowly pulled the boy's hands away so he could see those eyes again, even if they were trying not to look at him. Leaning down, he dropped a kiss on the boy's brow coaxingly. "Well?"

Subaru stared stubbornly at the floor, too embarrassed to look at the man, but he couldn't take back what he'd said the previous night. And maybe he didn't want to. Nervously, he nodded, still not looking. But then Seishirou's hands enveloped his face and slowly, inexorably tilted his chin up so that he had to meet that amber gaze. But the man was smiling. Somehow that made the worry knotted inside him loosen just a little.

"I'm glad." Seishirou leaned closer, still cupping the boy's face, and kissed him properly. Subaru tensed at first, fingers curling fast in the man's sleeves, but as the kiss continued, he slowly relaxed into the man's hold. _What about you? _he wanted to ask, but he knew it wasn't his place.

And then, suddenly, Seishirou stilled.

"Subaru-kun…" he blinked, as if startled by the idea, "we need a bath."

"Oh, I…" Subaru said, taken off guard. But once the man had pointed it out, he felt silly and distinctly unsanitary in yesterday's clothes. Detaching himself somewhat dazedly, he started for the door. "I'll wait outside then." But before he could take more than a couple steps, Seishirou's arms encircled him from behind and dragged him back against the man.

"Stay," he requested. "Let's take a bath together."

"Together?" Subaru squeaked. But there were already hands beginning to work on separating him from his shirt, methodically stripping him of concealing cloth, and try as he might, there was only so much he could do wrapping his arms around himself and shivering. And Seishirou too, he was going to be… Subaru blushed. Somehow he had to endure an entire bath like that!

He felt suddenly dizzy and faint as the rest of his clothes were pushed to the floor. Then Seishirou was starting on his own, and Subaru felt rooted to the spot, unable to move. Realizing he was staring, he jerked toward the wall, face flushing, but he could still feel that amused amber gaze trained on his back.

Don't think about it, he told himself. It didn't mean anything. The other man was teasing him. Don't think about it.

But then Seishirou's hands wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him back, skin against skin, and he forgot not to think about it.

Forgot completely.

* * *

Fuuma lowered the book he'd been reading and finally acknowledged the servant who'd been standing attentively at the door.

"What is it?" Normally he wouldn't have waited fifteen minutes to ask, but he was pretty sure he knew what the problem was, and it could wait. _They_ could wait.

"There's someone here to see the boy, sir."

Fuuma scowled. It was getting tiring… having those people show up on his door. For the past week, ever since they'd returned home, they'd been practically plagued with Hinoto's messengers asking Kamui to come with them. Fuuma was fed up with it. They couldn't have the boy. Not now. Not later. Not ever.

"They can't talk to him. Send them away."

With a nod, the servant ducked back out the door. From the other side of the room, a pair of amethyst eyes stared at him balefully.

"That could have been Subaru!"

"It wasn't," Fuuma replied, going back to his book, only to have the owner of said amethyst eyes flounce down beside him. Absently, he reached out and captured the boy's wrist, circling it easily with his thumb and index finger, and went back to reading. He was not expecting the twin stabs of pain that pierced his lower arm.

"Gah! Kamui! That's not what those teeth are for!" He glanced down at the boy and the rapidly healing set of fang marks gracing his arm.

"You're not listening to me," Kamui replied, undeterred. Fuuma stared at him for a few seconds before deciding that such a show of defiance constituted… punishment. There was a very satisfying yelp as Fuuma caught a fist-full of Kamui's shirt and dragged the boy up into the chair, and for a second everything was a delicious tangle of arms and legs and figuring out which way was up. Then Fuuma snagged the boy around the waist, righting him and half supporting him as he leaned down. The air pressure around them had begun to build during that scuffle, like the promise of a (very localized) summer storm, causing the room to seem to ripple and distort. Fuuma ignored it.

"This is what your fangs are for," he whispered into the boy's ear, biting down on the slender column of the boy's throat in demonstration. And as he drew that delicious blood out of that pretty body, the pressure that had been building in the air winked out of existence. Fuuma smirked smugly into the bite. It was hard to say whether Kamui had noticed it or not. But it didn't matter. Hands caught and kneaded at his shirt, curling and uncurling as the boy arched up into the bite. Rather than acquiesce to that silent demand, Fuuma pulled back enough so that the breath of his words would feather across the skin, smirking at the little displeased noise this elicited.

"Can't you just tell them to go away?" Another question for which he already knew the answer.

"They don't listen to me," Kamui replied, squirming a bit.

"Such a shame…"

Kamui yelped when the man unexpectedly released him, hitting his head on the armrest.

Lesson over.

* * *

Kamui sat on the corner of a dark roof, between the awkward shapes of decorative clay urns, watching the spectacle below, bored, and wondered absently when he'd begun to find such matters routine. It hadn't been more than a week since the prospect of facing humans had still been terrifying and new.

Kamui had never killed anyone to eat. Well, not since that first time after he'd been turned. A fact over which Fuuma had continued to remind him of the dangers—letting humans go who could recall his face. But he wasn't Fuuma, and killing wasn't necessary.

"Any good?" he asked, once the man had finally released the lean body in arms.

"Why? Want any?" Fuuma smirked up at him, holding his hand out. Kamui hopped down, careful not to dislodge any of the urns, one corner of his mouth quirking up warningly, before he caught the front of the man's shirt in a slender hand and tugged him down, stretching up on his toes to whisper into the pulse-point along the side of Fuuma's neck.

"Maybe later." When he pulled away there was a heaviness in the air that hadn't been there before—a pressure against the ears. Fuuma watched, gold gaze boring into him. Reaching a hand out toward the roof he'd been sitting on a moment before… Kamui focused. One of the urns burst—an explosion of clay fragments. Then another, three away. And another, back beside the first. He let his hand fall. "You said when I could control it…"

Fuuma cut him off, pulled him closer, and Kamui knew he was about to pay for earlier. The tension in the air had far from died. It danced about him, lifting little wisps of his hair. The man's hands on him were warm, wrapped around his upper arm, at his waist. His breath hitched at the contact, and he tipped his head back dizzily when the man bent toward him. All the Power on Earth and he was going to fall right into Fuuma's hands. "I never break a promise." The man had bent far enough that the following words were a shaky breath of laughter at the base of Kamui's neck. "What did I tell you about exposing your throat?"

"Mff." Displeased by the sudden reprimand, Kamui tried to struggle away, not amused by the joke. But the grip on his arm only tightened, and he stilled at the scrape of teeth. Danger. _Caught_. A thrill of expectation wound high and tight at his core, dizzying. He barely felt the sting of those teeth closing at his throat.

He'd already surrendered completely.

* * *

Subaru stared at the door and let his thoughts drift over the outside world and far off affairs. Seishirou hadn't let him outside since the day they'd come back. Maybe because he was safer there, tucked away from prying eyes, or maybe because no one could ever use him against the man if he was kept in hand, or maybe because Seishirou just didn't like to share. Whatever the case, Subaru didn't want to go against the man's wishes—it wasn't in his nature to disappoint others—but he didn't know how long Seishirou intended to keep him all hidden away, and he knew that if he stayed, the man would find a way to distract him from his purpose again, like he did every night.

Tentatively, he reached out for the doorknob, knowing that he should leave already if he intended go, knowing that if Seishirou came back it'd all be over. He reached out… just as the knob suddenly twisted under his fingers. He blinked to find the door pulled open, Seishirou blocking the way, having returned early. While he was still getting his bearings, the man raised a suspicious eyebrow at him.

"You wouldn't happen to be thinking about going out, would you?" He stepped through the doorway, pulling the door closed behind him, and the click of the knob turning back into place was resoundingly final. Realizing that his chance had been lost, Subaru despaired.

"Please, Seishirou-san. Kamui… I need to go." But the door was all the farther away then, almost unreachable, barricaded as it was behind Seishirou.

"I don't want you going to Monou-kun's alone. It's dangerous."

"Then together. There are things I need to tell Kamui. It's important!"

"You haven't eaten yet." Seishirou looked him over critically, mouth thinning. "Don't think you can distract me with the issue of your brother."

Subaru blushed, half at the accusation and half at the scrutiny. He might have pointed out that it was Seishirou using concern for his health to distract _him_, but he wasn't the kind to say so, and it _was_ true that he'd never admit to being hungry. So he let the man sweep him down the hall into one of the rooms—let the man gather him onto his lap all complacent. Seishirou didn't need to say anything, didn't need to speak soft, persuasive things to coax him like he'd done at first—the firm hand at the back of his spine, between his shoulder blades, fingers pressing at the nape of his neck, spoke volumes. He let that persistent pressure guide him down, draw him closer, until he was tucked comfortably under the man's chin. The shiver of a pulse fluttered, trapped, against his lips. Bringing steadying hands up to curl about broad shoulders, he bit down, freeing it, and ceased to think about the thing…

There was no way he'd get to see his brother now, he knew—not while Seishirou was there. The man would find ways to keep him there, to make him forget (even temporarily) what was so important. His instincts told him Kamui was well, but he wanted to know. He wanted to see.

And he wanted to explain.

There hadn't been any time that night he'd watched Fuuma take his brother away, and circumstances had kept them separated ever since.

Through the whole thing Seishirou was still, any response to Subaru's gentle touch at his throat suppressed so completely not even the smallest shiver of pleasure escaped. Subaru would have worried he was hurting the man if it weren't for the hand curled warmly around the nape of his neck to keep him close, insistently pulling him down again if he tried to let go too soon. So mostly he found the smooth skin under his palms where he held onto firm shoulders pleasant, the control that kept the muscles beneath his fingertips still reassuring. Seishirou would always be that impossibly unruffled, calm center in his world.

So when the man's fingers tensed in his hair, pulling tight, Subaru knew something was wrong. Seishirou was looking away from him now, somewhere off in the distance.

"Well," he said, "it seems you'll get to talk to your brother anyway." A minute later Subaru could feel it too—the slight disturbance of feet, preternaturally quiet, pressing against sod.

"Kamui?" Subaru asked, perking up and looking about. Nodding silently, Seishirou got to his feet, catching Subaru when the boy hurriedly scrambled off his lap and setting the boy down in his place.

"Stay there."

"But I need to talk to Kamui!" Sad emerald eyes followed Seishirou beseechingly.

"It's too dangerous. That man will be with him and I don't want you anywhere near him." With that, Seishirou turned and headed down the hall, trusting in the boy's obedience to keep him from following. The one thing Subaru had always been was obedient. It was… reassuring.

Turning his thoughts from the surely morose boy he was leaving behind, Seishirou bent his will to opening the wards for their visitors before they could be simply broken. By the time the main door was swung open, he was waiting on the other side.

"It's polite to knock."

The golden-eyed man framed in the doorway paused to raise a questioning eyebrow.

"Would there have been an answer?"

For a moment the two of them stood there, regarding each other. Fuuma hadn't hoped the man would be away again like the first time he'd come, but faced now with such a solid obstacle, found himself unsure how to proceed. The problem was, while Fuuma was no longer trying to kill Seishirou, there was no guarantee the other man had given up trying to kill him.

He could sense Kamui at his back, that crackle in the air that was part of the boy enveloping them both now. He deliberately barred the doorway with one outstretched arm, warning the boy away from rash decisions. Seishirou could feel it too, he knew, that undercurrent of power and danger. It would be difficult for the man to face them both, should it come to that, but he wasn't to be underestimated. Even if the two of them had the advantage in raw power, Seishirou would be a dangerous enemy, practical experience a weapon honed sharp by years, and they were in his home.

"Kamui wishes to see his brother," Fuuma said into the silence, after they'd stood there for a few moments waiting for the man to make his decision. "We have some questions. That's all." And at last Seishirou swept an arm out, gesturing them to proceed forward, the picture of a gracious host.

"Guests first."

Fuuma nodded curtly, not trusting such generosity. Placing a guiding hand at the small of Kamui's back, he swept the boy along beside him, alert to the smallest movement of the eyes he could feel trained on them from behind. But somehow they made it inside without incident.

"Straight forward. To your right," Seishirou prompted when they came to a stop, honey-soft voice at their backs an unnecessary reminder of his presence. Fuuma allowed the guidance, knowing when they'd reached their destination by the other occupant already in the room.

"Subaru!" Kamui jolted from Fuuma's grasp in order to embrace his twin, whose emerald eyes had gone wide at the pair of them.

"Kamui," Subaru acknowledged, before the joy in his expression faded into guilt. "Kamui, I have to tell you…"

"You knew what would happen." Kamui cut him off, drawing away a little, though there was nothing reproachful or condemning in his tone. Subaru's arms fell to his sides defeated, and he nodded, a deplorable little nod, staring at the floor. "How long?"

"Years." He sat down on the couch, a little suddenly, as though invisible strings of worry had been cut by relief. "I found out by accident. I would have told you! But Obaa-chan said people would come after you if anyone found out. She told me I must never tell…"

"Understandable," Fuuma said, moving to shadow Kamui, pulling him down onto the couch as well, "considering anyone with half a whit of training would have to be blind to not notice so much Power."

"It's only a matter of time till they come for him. They won't be able to miss it." Seishirou claimed a chair to the side—a location that allowed him a good view of the other occupants in the room and coincidentally put him closer to Subaru. "If they get him… they'll be able to find Subaru."

Fuuma didn't miss the warning. "It doesn't matter," he replied. "They won't get him." The arm that was wrapped around Kamui's waist tightened marginally. "What I'd like to know is how this happened in the first place. I've never heard of a Family with Power like Kamui's."

"I'm interested in this as well," Seishirou said, after a minute had passed. "Subaru-kun?" he prompted, but the boy shook his head.

"In order for such a thing to even be possible…" Fuuma began, contemplative.

"They're half brothers." When everyone turned to stare at him, Seishirou continued, "Well, it's only logical. Subaru-kun is obviously a pureblood Sumeragi. Kamui-kun is very definitely not. And the only union capable of producing such an abnormality," here Seishirou ignored Kamui's sudden protest, "is an inter-Family union." He turned to Subaru. "I don't suppose your grandmother was particularly pleased."

"A union with what Family?" Fuuma asked, eyebrows raised.

"Magami." Amber eyes fell on Kamui, restrained in the other man's hold. "When their mother died, I noticed the smell of the ashes. The grandmother… must have tied her spell to his blood."

This time Subaru nodded. "When his blood changed, the seal was broken."

"That's why," Fuuma murmured, briefly resting his chin on the head of ebony hair leaning against him, "when I turned Kamui, the spell was destroyed." For a few minutes there was silence as the occupants in the room considered this, each absorbed in his own thoughts. For a long time there was nothing to say. In the end, it was Seishirou who spoke up.

"What do you intend to do now?"

"I'm staying," Fuuma replied. "I'm not running."

"He'll draw attention." Amber eyes flicked briefly to Kamui. And though he didn't say it, Fuuma knew better than to think the man was concerned about their welfare.

"Better to meet it here then, on familiar ground."

Seishirou didn't look satisfied with that answer, but while they'd been talking, Kamui had leaned forward.

"Subaru," Kamui reached out to his brother entreatingly, "why don't you come back with us?" The thought of leaving, of not knowing when they'd see each other again, if they'd be allowed to see each other again, was unimaginable. To know his brother was trapped there, locked away…

The question was innocent, but Fuuma saw the danger in it immediately, how it would be taken. Nevertheless, it had already been asked and there could be no taking it back. He glanced at Seishirou, who sat unmoving, face a mask. But Fuuma was a hunter too, and he knew that stillness well.

Everyone turned to Subaru, who blinked wide emerald eyes at all the attention. "I want to stay with Seishirou."

"I think," Seishirou said slowly into the stillness that followed, "you should go now."

"Subaru…" Kamui repeated, doubtful, as Fuuma pulled him to his feet.

"I want to, Kamui," Subaru reassured, making placating gestures as his brother was tugged away from him, getting to his feet as well to follow. "I want to." In the face of such words, there was nothing Kamui could do. He let himself be guided to the door.

There was something Fuuma wanted to ask Subaru though, something that had been nagging at him for weeks, something that didn't make any sense. But he wanted to ask the boy privately, and there was no way Seishirou was going to allow that. Whatever hint of graciousness had spurred the other man to let them so deep into his home, Fuuma was wary of upsetting it. Wary of wearing out their welcome.

Still, opportunity presented itself when least expected, and it wasn't until they'd excused themselves to leave that Subaru, in seeing his brother out, somehow ended up close enough for a quick conversation.

"Why didn't you tell Kamui?"

Subaru blinked, not expecting the sudden question, but he didn't ask what Fuuma meant. "Because it wasn't important," he whispered, looking away. "Because I'd never seen Kamui… _care_ for someone so much. I couldn't tell him."

Then he was past the boy, any chance for further explanation whisked away, and the answer hadn't relieved the trouble at all. The boy's reasoning made no sense. Surely Subaru would have wanted to warn Kamui about what Fuuma had done, would have wanted to take Kamui away from him. But the boy hadn't said a word. He had let Kamui find out on his own.

The problem, Fuuma decided, was that he really didn't understand Subaru at all.

The next second he had stopped next to Kamui as Seishirou opened the door, seeing them out, and Fuuma put the matter aside.

"Next time I hope you'll send prior notice of your visit." Seishirou watched them, amber eyes sharp.

"Next time?" Fuuma raised an eyebrow.

"Clearly there's no stopping you, and it's easier if I'm here to let you in." The trouble, Seishirou thought, was that the two of them were now powerful enough to pose a real problem. He might have viewed taking on one of them as something of a challenge, but two would drastically cut any chance of succeeding. And unfortunately, what couldn't be properly disposed of… had to be endured.

The annoying thing about guests knowing where to find them, Seishirou thought, was that they had a real habit of wearing out their welcome.

The door closed after them with a smug little click.

* * *

"Your grandmother was right. To hide you as she did." Fuuma spread his fingers over pale skin, marveling at the pulse he could feel, marveling at how the boy stretched willingly into his touch now, all that power bending at his will. Amazing how things could change in a short few weeks. Intoxicating.

For a moment he examined the body, like fine porcelain, before him, and contemplated the echo of Subaru's earlier words, an answer he hadn't expected. The opinion of one young boy, to be sure, but… Subaru had known somehow what was at stake, what might be lost if he warned Kamui what Fuuma had done. Fuuma hadn't realized, not then. But now he could see—in his quest to go after Seishirou, he had almost lost something of far more value.

A mistake he wouldn't make again.

"There would have been no end to the trouble—people wanting to destroy you, people wanting to control you," Fuuma said conversationally.

"Mm," Kamui replied, which might or might not have been agreement. It was questionable whether the boy was even paying attention, stretching up blindly as he was into Fuuma's hands.

"But this won't be a problem now," Fuuma continued. "No one will ever take you away. No one will destroy you."

Kamui stilled at that and raised an ironic eyebrow. "Am I not with someone who wants to destroy me already?"

_Still coherent_, Fuuma noted. Something would have to be done about that. Then he pondered the boy's question and chuckled darkly. "Perhaps you are."

* * *

"You're worried about your brother…" Seishirou didn't look particularly pleased by this observation. Subaru had been wearing that far-off expression ever since Kamui's visit, and it was like Subaru to worry about everyone else first.

"No," Subaru turned startled emerald eyes on him, and at Seishriou's doubtful expression, smiled reassuringly. "Just thinking."

"I'm surprised you let that man keep him."

"Monou-san," Subaru paused for words, still smiling. "He'll keep Kamui safe. I think he understands now…" Seishirou considered this for a second—Subaru's trust in people. He, himself, wasn't quite so quick to forget the threat. But then, the boy wasn't known for being logical…

For some reason, Subaru had said he'd stay—he'd been offered a chance to leave, to not be hidden away, and he'd said no. Not that Seishirou would have allowed the boy to go anyway, but he hadn't expected him to want to stay. Hearing that, something had changed, eased up—some vague tension he hadn't even realized existed until that moment. It was strange…

Kamui wasn't quite such a threat anymore.

Of course, there was still a mile of polite distance between them. Seishirou eyed the span of bedspread separating them and was suddenly tired of waiting for the boy to close it. In the end he leaned forward and kissed that smile away, intentionally pulling the startled boy closer just as first light broke the horizon…

So that any possible protest was stolen by the dawn and Subaru slumped bonelessly against him afterward, falling asleep in his arms.

* * *

**Author Note:** That's it! It's done! I still can't believe it's done. I thought it would never end. There's something sad about finishing a story, about knowing that you'll never get to work with the characters again quite as they are now. Awhile ago I contemplated making a sequel, so that all the residual hostilities could fade and Kamui could deal with Hinoto (I even foreshadowed it at the beginning of this chapter with Kamui's dream)—Hinoto and all her people seem to be the one big thing not efficiently wrapped up here (noted by my beta)—but that's not going to happen now. I don't want to start something else I know won't be finished.

Looking back, it's easier to see how many mistakes I made in writing this story. Writing the last chapter, I realized just how off Fuuma's character was. And there are things next time that I'd explain better or do differently. There was supposed to be an indication earlier that Subaru knew something he wasn't telling anyone, but with trying to keep track of everything else, I forgot. In the end, I think I learned a lot from writing this, both about the characters and about novels (Whee! TF is officially novel-length!). Ultimately this was a learning experience, and considering I started writing this only having read the series once through beforehand, it's understandable that I didn't get everything right the first time through.

Considering, I am shocked by how popular this story is. And thrilled. It's the eighth longest X fic on right now, or the 6th longest if you discount fics in other languages (and considering there are 2400-some stories, that's saying something), not to mention only the _second_ English fic over the 60k mark to be completed. I feel accomplished! ^_^

I think I got all the questions answered. I don't know, did I get all the questions answered? O_O If not, I guess it's too late now…

Anyway, a HUGE thanks to my Beta, Schnickledooger, for sticking with me this long! She's the greatest!

And a great deal of thanks to all my reviewers! We love you!

**Review Responses: **

**Schnickledooger:** It's true. I didn't make Subaru insane-insane. I didn't want him bouncing around throwing flowers everywhere or anything. It was difficult to find a good balance on the insanity thing, and I think next time I won't do it. However, it did accomplish my design, to get Subaru to express his feelings. But at a price.

Subaru's problem is that he can fight, but he never really does. I definitely appreciated allowing him to go all-out for once. (There were benefits to the insanity. XD)

Unfortunately, I couldn't make Seishirou realize he was in love, because every time I considered the scenario it went all un-canon on me. Getting Subaru to say he loved Sei out loud was a miracle in itself. I think it'd take a sequel to get Sei to admit it.

Alright, I admit, letting Setsuka think for a second she'd been killed by Subaru… priceless. I thoroughly enjoyed that. ^_^

*considers your request* I don't know, was this enough snogging for you? XD Sei and Su actually kissed! They KISSED! Do you know how HARD that was?

On the bright side, guess what? It's DONE! It's all done! You've been such a wonderful Beta! Thank you so much for all your support and for sticking with me till the end! I couldn't have done it without you!

**Shinken16:** If the last late update scared you… *sweats* Um, I hope you're still reading after this horrendous wait? ^^, But I put extra special effort into getting this story done just for all the amazing number of people who for some crazy reason review it and have it on faves. None of my other stories are going to get finished. T_T I didn't mean to take so long. *flail* But I really struggled with the ending! (maybe that's the problem the real CLAMP artists are having too? ^^, (Okay, no, not really…) I really wish they'd finish X already though.

XD Your love for Nataku amuses me. Um, I really didn't want to have to deal with him in later chapters? Or Seishirou would have hunted him down anyway? I guess I've just seen too many Fu/Nataku stories floating around, and I really can't understand it. Every time I see one, I just want to start tearing out scamp!Fu's hair! It's like a compulsion. Must kill… cheating… Fuuma's… *twitch* Nothing against Nataku, just nothing for him either. He's so unloved!

**Secret For Keeps:** Aw, I appreciate all the time you took to think about and write such a wonderful review, really! I've really been enjoying your reviews lately. They make me excited, seeing someone asking clever questions and all. Your difficulty with writing fight scenes is mine. I have the same problem. I HATE writing fight scenes. I have no patience for such things. I have no idea how I made it through last chapter. I remember thinking the entire time "this is boring, this is sooo boring." ^^,

Eeeeh, that's probably my fault. In my mind, Kamui and his power are inherently one. It's something that's a part of him. Like I can't think of Subaru without Onmyoujutsu. A Kamui without power would be a tragedy. Heh, I feel kind of silly now, like isn't it obvious that Kamui has power? However, you did hear Seishirou earlier (it's been so long since I've read my own story, I can't even remember what chapter now) say that the products of inter-Family courtships are often unique? Subaru's purebred Sumeragi, but Kamui isn't. (Coming back to this after having worked a little more on the story, I made sure to include this subject in their discussion so that it should be clearer now. Thanks for reminding me!)

Subaru's strange actions… Okay, that one is answered in ch. 13. It's just not very obvious. *blush* Subaru is damaged. Seishirou says it at the beginning of the chapter, after he realizes what Setsuka has done and what the consequences might be. Quote: "If she had stabbed deep enough, long enough, Subaru might have been mentally damaged as well…" I did research into what functions were performed by the brain closest behind the eyes—loss of restraint is one symptom of brain damage. So for the duration of ch. 13, there's nothing holding Subaru back from saying exactly what's on his mind. I enjoyed the freedom, but I think I messed up the character, and for that reason I learned from this experience not to do it again. ^^,

Reading too much into it. XD I like to take bits and pieces from the actual books. Sometimes too much.

**Nekoi:** You've been so patient and faithful! The nice thing about these last chapters is that the characters have now realized what's important to them, and the couples have become… well, more coupley. ^^, I'm afraid it's taken me quite awhile to update this time. I deserve to be flambéed. But at least you won't have to worry about any further delays now that it's done.

It never fails. Inevitably all the best fics are left incomplete. I mean, it'd be nice if the authors were at least kind enough to leave a summary of the ending so you could console yourself with thoughts of how it would have all played out.

**akuma-river:** Oh good. XD Gah, I hate figuring out honorifics! What would they say in this situation or that situation. Too many changes! Any Japanese readers must think I'm an idiot! ^^, Sometimes I think it would be easier to just leave the names in English. (It wouldn't be so bad if Seishirou wasn't so polite!)

**Fan-fan31:** Considering that there are at least 6 other people who reviewed later than you, I'd say you're not so late after all. ^_^ Besides, clearly your review is worth waiting for! It always makes me feel good when people notice how much work gets put into a thing. I'm particularly glad the fight seems to have turned out better than I thought.

Unfortunately, Subaru isn't going to need an eyepatch. XD Fortunately?

**angel-kamui:** You know, it's true. I really wish there was a vamp twins author out there, a really good one. It's the one area no one has really written for. Oh, sure, there are a couple people doing one-shots. A couple really good one-shots even, but I've only ever seen one person write an actual story for them that was really good, and even then it only has 4 chapters to date and the author has never written anymore. T_T

**Leuv:** They can rest now. *nod, nod* Well, Sei and Su's relationship really isn't any less abusive. Maybe not so physically, but is mental abuse any different? I think there's a lot more to Fu and Kam than just physical mauling, but it's hard to see. I really like reading about them. Maybe because it fascinates me to put myself in their shoes and try to see their side of it, why they do what they do. With the death of Kotori, I'd say Fu and Kam look like a pairing to me, but I can understand. Subaru actually said he loves Sei in-story, whereas neither Fu nor Kam ever has. So I can see why people might not consider them canon. I really think that you can only really see all four characters when they're together. For instance, there are questions only Subaru would think to ask Fuuma, and answers Fuuma would only ever give Subaru. When those two are together, they can sometimes reveal things about each other that their true counterparts can't. Kamui would never think to ask those questions. Seishirou would never give a straight answer. You really do need all four. ^_^

**LeiCross:** Thank you! XD I put a lot of time into those fight scenes to try to make up for any lack of ability. Apparently it is possible to overcome your weaknesses. ^^ TMM? O.o What's that? I tried looking it up, but I got everything from The Mythical Man Month to Testing Maturity Model.

**Fascen:** I'm sorry you've had to wait so long! I never really gave up on this story, I just got a little sidetracked? ^^, Anyway, now you have the end!

**Fayah:** *laughs* Too bad that scenario would have to be written Crack. I don't think I could pull it off with angst. But can you imagine the look on Sei's face! XD I wonder what he would do? I'm alternating between thinking he'd be upset that something was messing with Subaru's usually pacifistic nature and thanking he'd just join in destroying the world. ^^,

**AnimeFantasy101:** Thank you. It makes me so happy that people enjoy my stories. Truthfully, there's another amazing writer out there named Akk, who's written a story called Family Matters for X. For all the time I put into writing (hours and hours), I always feel like I don't put half as much time into it as Akk, who studies historical events in Japan to make sure her plot lines up with them and mapped the setting of her story to a real place in Japan. Akk put so much work into that story, it astounds me. I'm not quite that thorough when it comes to fanfiction. ^^,

**Burgundy eyes**: WOAH! Okay, forgive me, I might be a little selective about answering all those reviews! XD I was actually here the day you wrote most of those, watching them come in one by one and cringing every time you hit a chapter I was particularly worried about. There are so many problems with this story. I didn't see them as I was writing, but looking back now they seem glaringly obvious.

Your first X vamp fic? Well, there aren't very many out there. I've been happily filling in the lack. There are two I'd recommend though. Untitled by midnightinthegarden (Fu/Kam, and I hope I'm remembering the name right) and Worlds Fall Apart by Sakurazukamori6 (in the TRC section, Sei/Su, Fu/Kam). Don't be fooled by the weird beginning of the second one, it gets good. ^_^

As for your chapter 3 question, the past is a little bit complicated and I really had a hard time trying to explain it without bogging down the plot with backstory. I think you've read far enough now to know that Seishirou never actually attacked Su and Kam (though I wanted it to look that way, and from the twins' perspective it seems so too). But yes, there are two separate instances: the night they were attacked at Hokuto's, and the night their mother died.

Actually, it did occur to me that being kept underground wasn't a good idea, but I happened to know it wouldn't be long enough to matter, and truthfully, even if he hadn't been about to be turned into a vampire, I figured Sei would probably let him walk around outside once he was sure the boy wasn't going to leave.

Oh, good catch on the grammatical error in 5! It's rare for someone to be able to point out a spelling mistake! I feel sort of stupid for not catching that. XD But I'm not perfect…

And another prime example of not being perfect in ch. 7. ^^, One thing I really HATE about writing is timeline and figuring out which inventions were available and which weren't. I distinctly remember thinking that I should look that up when I mentioned zippers, but at the time I was just trying to get the thing posted, and it was fanfiction, so I threw my hands in the air over a matter I clearly shouldn't have given up on. ^_^

A lot of people asked that actually. I never meant to make it look like Subaru didn't care about Kamui. I was actually afraid that with Kamui worrying so much about Subaru their relationship would look like something other than brotherly concern, and in my worry perhaps, took out one too many references to Subaru's side of it.

**Nachan:** Wow, that's a lot to read so quickly! ^_^ If you just read it, you're lucky. Some people have been waiting a year for this. *embarrassed* I can't believe it took me so long to end it!

Having Setsuka impersonate Satsuki solved two stones at once: Satsuki's death and how Yuuto was going to die. I admit to being particularly attached to the idea of Satsuki killing Yuuto. I'm horrible like that. ^^,


End file.
